When we met
by Crazyforkasey
Summary: four girls with different back grounds join the Airborne. Katie is the quit Doctor, Amy is the rowdy Lieutenant, Lane is the clever S2 intelligence officer with a weakness for causing trouble, Mia is the didicated nurse. What can these girls do for the men of easy and can they help each other when they see combat. OC/Speirs, OC/Nixon, OC/Winters, OC/Lipton Edited in May 2013
1. Currahee 1

This story is being edited in May of 2013

* * *

Captain Katie Hendrick stepped out of the hospital at Camp Toccoa; she hoped to get a smoke, before her next patient came in.

She looked over at Easy Company; they were standing at attention waiting for their CO again, Herbert Sobel, resident douche.

Katie looked over at her best friend from high school Amy, she was rolling her eyes, Sobel was late again, which was a common occurrence, this left his men standing out in Georgia heat, unable to hydrate, and on more than one occasion soldiers from Easy had been brought into the hospital needing a drip.

Katie or Dr. Katherine Hendrick, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was a 5 foot 6 inches blond with blue eyes and a bright smile.

Katie had graduated High school early and at the age of 15 she started College. Her plans had been to do research on tropical diseases, but then the war had started and she figured that they needed her more in the field, than in a lab.

Her best friend Amy had begged pleaded and threatened her way into the army and the airborne, Katie had decided to follow her to Toccoa.

At 23 Katie was a young surgeon, but one of the best if you asked her chief at Charlotte memorial.

Katie sighed when she saw lieutenant Sobel walk around the corner.

"You people are at the position of attention," Sobel screamed at the company.

Katie sighed and was about to turn around and go back into the hospital, when an intelligence officer from S2 walked up to her.

Captain Lane Easterday 21 of age was a stunning brunette with curls down below her shoulder blades, hazel eyes and her IQ was almost as high as Katie's. She had a rare talent for causing trouble and loved to drive Lieutenant Nixon bat shit crazy.

"Should we go rescue her," Lane asked Katie

"I don't know, let's just see how this plays out" Katie answered

By that time, Sobel had reached Liebgott "You want to kill Germans?" Sobel asked Liebgott

"Yes sir" Liebgott replied

"Not with this" Sobel said and banged the bayonet he was holding against Liebgott's helmet,

"wouldn't take this rusty piece of shit to war and I wouldn't take you to war, in you condition, now thanks to these men and their infractions, all weekend passes has been revoked. Change into your PT gear we are running Currahee" Sobel stoked of and Lieutenant Winters turned around "Second platoon fallout"

Amy dismissed her men and they ran towards the barracks to change into PT gear.

Lane and Katie shrugged, turned, and looked at each other "We running with them aren't we" Katie asked Lane with a sigh.

"We sure are" Lane said

Katie and Lane walked over to their barrack and changed into their pt. gear and ran over to were Easy was assembled, while they waited for Sobel to give the order to move out.

"Hey you dolls decided to join us" Luz called to the two captains when they joined the waiting company.

"Yeah I couldn't let you run up that hill all alone, you might get lost" Katie retorted.

"Well you sure will be a welcome addition to the run," Luz said

Katie and Luz bantered back and forth, and finally made a bet, about who would be up and down the hill first, Katie knew she had this in the bag, Luz might be fast, but Katie was faster.

Sobel ran alongside the company screaming at the men, one of the private tripped and Sobel ordered the Company, not to help him, he just ran of screaming hi ho silver.

Lane, Katie and Amy was third, fourth and fifth to the top, they could tell it pissed of Sobel, Lane just tapped the stone and smirked and ran back down the mountain, she was a ranking officer so Sobel couldn't do a thing about it.

The three girls were in excellent shape, Katie, Amy ran cross-country in high school, and Lane just believed in keeping in shape. Lane would actually run up Currahee on her own time, just to make sure she would beat Nixon every time.

Coming down the hill, Lane, Katie and Amy stayed behind and cheered on the rest of the company as they finished.

"Hey Luz, you owe me" Katie called after Luz

"Yeah Yeah, we will see" Luz called back.

After the run Sobel dismissed the company, Lane, Katie stayed behind, and to shoot the breeze with a few of the people from the company, while Amy talked to her men.

"So Lieb, what was up with the rusty bayonet?" Lane asked Liebgott

"God damn Sobel, sees things, he has a stick up his ass, we all going to end up dead, before we even see combat" Liebgott mumbled.

"Yeah well, if I was his ranking officer, I would put him on permanent mess duty, with the other screw ups" Lane said and shot Liebgott a sympathetic smile.

"Well captain, can't you do something about him?" Perconte asked

"Sorry guys wish I could" Lane said

"If you ever need a way out, you come see me" Katie said and winked at the guys

Just then, Amy came back and the girls headed for their barrack.

"So lieutenant Hunt, what did you do this time to make Sobel revoke all the weekend passes?" a smirking voices sounded from behind the girls,

Amy knew that voice anywhere; she clenched her fists and turned around to face her tormentor, lieutenant Speirs from Dog Company.

Amy put a big smile on her face "well I was so busy thinking about what to stuff up you're…." Before Amy could finish, Katie pushed her friend behind her and smiled at Speirs

"What the lieutenant meant to say was, Sobel was just being himself and punished the whole company lieutenant?" Katie said, while Lane escorted a growling Amy away.

Speirs gave Katie the once over and Katie got slightly pissed "Dismissed lieutenant" Katie said, Speirs saluted her and disappeared into the shadow he came from.

Katie just shook her head and walked over to the barrack, Lane and Amy had already finished their shower, Katie looked at Amy.

"What the hell Amy, Speirs is a 1st lieutenant, you could have gotten into a lot of trouble," Katie said

"I hate that fucking prick… Him and Sobel are such fucking idiots," Amy said while she put her OD. back on

Lane and Katie looked at each other "Are you sure you hate Speirs" Lane asked Amy and nudged her slightly.

"Yes he is a douche" Amy said

"Ok if you say so," Lane said

"So what are you dolls doing tonight, you don't have to stay here just because I am confined to base," Amy laid down on her cot.

"Well we won't go anywhere, besides Katie is on call," Lane said

The three girls tried to decide what to do, but they couldn't agree on anything, finally Lane had enough "Well I am going to the officers club, and whatever trouble I can find there" Lane walked out of the barrack and headed towards the officers club, on her way there she heard a voice call out to her

"Captain Easterday"

Lane turned around and saw Luz walking towards her

"Lieutenant, what can I do for you?" Lane asked

"Is the doc at the barracks" Luz asked

"Yeah? Why?" Lane asked Luz.

"Liebgott and one of the men from Dog got into a fight and Liebgott needs stitches, the only one who won't report Liebgott to Sobel is Doc Hendrick" Bull asked

Katie had a soft spot for the rowdy boy from Frisco and the two of them went to great strength to protect each other.

"Go find her, but Lieutenant Hunt is with her" Lane said

"It's ok the Lieutenant is cool, she is one of us," Luz said

Luz had a thing for Amy, she was like a sister to him, she was tough as hell, but because of her attitude, she got into with Sobel a lot and Luz had saved her ass more than once

"Well I am going to find my own trouble, she you round" Lane said

Luz started to walk of "Oh captain go easy on the lieutenant, he looked like he had a rough day" Luz said

Lane nodded and headed towards the officers club, she walked inside and looked around, the only one there was Nixon, looking angry and drunk, a mean drunk Nixon was not a pleasant thing, Lane knew that from experience, Lane made the mistake of going at it with Nixon after he came back from a family visit.

"What's your poison soldier?" Lane asked, very well aware of the fact, that Nixon only drank Vat 69

Nixon turned his head and looked at Lane; she could tell Nixon was a mess.

"What's going on Lew?" Lane asked

Lane and Nixon had grown up n the same fancy circles, they even attended Yale at the same time, Lanes parents owned a chain of department stores and had more money than they knew what to do with.

They wanted Lane to marry well, but Lane had rebelled and joined the army, with the help of some influential friends.

"Cathy is divorcing me, she is taking the house, the kid, the dog, it's my god damn dog, she hates that dog," Nixon almost yelled.

"Lew I am sorry, but you honestly not see this happen? The two of you didn't want the same things," Lane said

"What are you getting at?" Nixon asked, what did Lane know and had she kept her knowledge from him, had his wife cheated on him?

"Lew come on, personally Cathy wasn't my first choice for you, I didn't like her when we were in school, she was just to preppy and she wanted to tie you down right away. Come on Nix do you really want to be the CEO of Nixon Nitration's in Nixon, New Jersey for the rest of your life? you would be dead before you were fifty, in my opinion you dodge a bullet" Lane said

"Yeah well, who asked you anyway, this is just one more thing my parents can be all disappointed in me about" Nixon said and turned around and motioned for another drink.

"Well no one, but come on Nix, don't be all pissy, let's go to the mess and get some grub, you need it, and I heard you guys have a day grueling tomorrow" Lane said.

"Don't tell me what to do, ok, Lane Easterday, you might be a Captain here, but back home at the play ground, you are still just little Laney, so get out of my fucking business and mind your own" Nixon said and slammed his glass down in the bar and walked out, slamming the door after him.

Well that went well, Lane thought to herself, she ordered shot of whiskey and decided to see if any of the others was at the mess.

When Lane walked into the mess she saw, some of the Easy men there, she noticed there was a vacant seat between Bull and Hoobler "hey boys can I sit here" she asked

"Go ahead, Captain" Hoobler said

"So what's up boys? find any trouble yet?" Lane asked

Bull had been Lanes partner in crime more than once, the best prank they pulled, was the time they stole a pair of Sobel's underwear and used as a flag, they were never discovered and after that prank, Sobel made sure all his belongings was locked away. Nixon had been on the receiving end to once they switched all Nixon's underwear, with ladies underwear.

Nixon knew who was behind that one and Lane was still waiting for his retaliation.

"No trouble yet Captain, you got something in mind," Bull asked

"Well not yet" Lane said

The door to the mess opened, Katie and Amy walked in with Luz and Liebgott, they joined Lane and the guys, they talked about this and that and mostly about ways to get rid of Sobel.

Luz turned around and looked at Lane, "so did you talk to Lieutenant Nixon?" He asked. "Bull told me you were heading for the officers club" Luz continued

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty, you have to keep this under wraps ok, Cathy is divorcing him and she is taking everything" Lane said

"No shit, really?" Luz said

"Yes and I may have told him, I never liked Cathy and it blew up in my face" Lane said

"That might not have been a good idea…. Wait how the hell do you know Nixon's wife?" Luz asked

"This is absolutely confidential, I grew up with Nix and went to Yale with him, My parents knew his parents etc. and that's why I am so mean to him, he was after me growing up" Lane said

"No shit really, well who would have figured, explains a lot though," Luz said

"Like what?" Lane asked him

"Well you always seemed different that the rest of them, you have class somehow" Luz said

"Thanks Luz, save it for Lieutenant Hunt" Lane smirked at Luz, who blushed

The door opened again and Winters, Speirs and Nixon walked in, Lane looked up, she locked eyes with Nixon and quickly looked away, when she saw the anger in his eyes.

Bull noticed the look and leaned over to Lane "You sure we won't have to set Nixon straight" He asked her

"No let's leave him alone for a bit" Lane said and continued to ask Bull about yesterdays field exercise.

Apparently, Sobel had fucked up and Lane was almost afraid of what that man would do with the Intel Lane collected, while in combat.

Katie was talking to Liebgott about a foot injury he acquired during yesterdays exercise, Liebgott wasn't one to complain, but his foot was still swollen and Katie, urged him to ice it.

Katie could feel someone starring at her, she looked up and noticed Winters looking at her and she smiled at him, Winters smiled back to her and looked away when Nixon elbowed him.


	2. Silent Times

Camp Toccoa was quiet and dark at four in the morning.

Amy was walking around, she couldn't sleep, and she had a secret she wasn't prepared to share with the girls yet

She was confused, she loved being in the air borne, it was hard work, but she was starting to doubt if she had made the right choice.

Was this the place for her? what would it be like to see combat? death would be a big part of going to war.

Amy sighed and started to walk towards the flag pole, as she neared she saw a shadow leaning up against it smoking a cigarette, when she approached the shadow turned its head, Amy had to swallow it was Speirs.

"So you can't sleep either" Speirs asked Amy, in a surprisingly soft voice

Amy looked at Speirs for a moment, before answering "Nope, I have a lot on mind"

Speirs turned and motioned Amy to follow him "Follow me Hunt," He said.

Speirs lead Amy towards hospital, went around it and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall of the hospital, he padded the ground next to him and Amy sat down beside him, far enough from him, so she wouldn't touch him.

They sat in silence for a moment, and looked towards the horizon, the ground behind hospital was vacant, and the silence was comfortable.

Speirs look over at Amy, he had started to notice she was losing weight, she had dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed different from when he first met her.

Speirs would never forget that first day at Toccoa, a couple of men had made some inappropriate comments about women in the service and Amy had set them straight and been punished for it instantly, she had taken the punishment without crying about it, and she had worked hard to earn her rang as second lieutenant.

Speirs had a hard time figuring out Amy, she was a pretty girl, but also annoying as hell, he just loved to yank her chain to get her going, but right now it seemed like she needed a friend.

"want to tell me what's bothering you," Speirs asked

"It's silly really" Amy said and pulled up some grass and twisted it around her fingers in a circular motion, she could feel herself tearing up she didn't want Speirs to she her cry, she was tough, she was a lieutenant in the best company in the army.

Amy sniffled and looked up at Speirs he was looking at her with worry in his eyes.

"I am just starting to doubt myself, that's all I know it's silly, but I also miss home and I am not sure if I can handle myself in combat" Amy said and looked away.

She felt Speirs hand on her shoulder, "Hey Ames it's ok, we all have doubts, but you are one of the toughest people I have met, so chin up, you got this ok" Speirs said.

They sat in silence for a while "why are you up at this hour" Amy asked her companion.

"I got a killer headache, so I decided to get some air, I was on my way back, when I met you," Speirs said.

Speirs got on his feet and held his hand out to Amy, he pulled her up and hugged her, at first Amy was really surprised, but then she hugged him back, it felt surprisingly good, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Speirs let go of her and looked at her "Just remember I believe in you" He said and turned away and walked towards the barracks.

Amy wandered around for a while, she knew she would never be able to go back to sleep, her encounter with Speirs had confused her even more, she knew she could jump out of plane, as long as the man next to was a paratrooper, but what about killing could she do it?

Amy shook her head and decided to head back to get ready for the mornings exercise.

Back at the barrack Lane and Katie was awake, Katie was wearing her scrubs, so Lane and Amy knew they wouldn't she her the rest of the day. Twice a week the people who lived around the base came to see the doctor if they needed, Katie always complained she wasn't a GP, but it was a nice diversion from blisters and hurt soldiers.

Lane had to go to S2 before breakfast, so Amy wandered over to the mess alone, once inside she quickly saw the Easy boys there, she headed for Toye and Perconte, and she sat down with her tray of food and looked over at the cooking area. Winters had been promoted the day before and Sobel had assigned him to mess duty for fourteen days, so that left second platoon with only Nixon and the NCO. Amy prayed that Nixon would pull himself together for the next two weeks, Lip, wouldn't have to lead second alone.

Amy sat and listened to the boys evidently, they had a light afternoon and were to have an extra meal, during the day, spaghetti, Amy hated spaghetti and when she told Guarnere, he told her now he could never marry her, Amy had no problem with that.

Lane walked in and sat next to Amy with her morning coffee and growled something about idiot rich guys, she turned to Amy "I have Intel for you," Lane said

"What? do tell" Amy said

"We are getting out of here we are going to Fort Benning to get our wings, so get your guys ready" Lane said

Amy nodded "will do" Amy said.

"There is one more thing, we are marching there," Lane said

"What you got to be fucking kidding me, who the hell came up with that?" Amy said

"Sink wants to break the Japanese marching record and get this 1st battalion, gets to go by rail and 3rd is going to Atlanta by train and marching from Atlanta to Benning and 2nd is Marching from here to Atlanta" Lane said

Amy shook her head, Sink had just had to show off, and Amy hoped he would march with them, so the men wouldn't suffer alone.

It was Late November, it was getting a bit chilly, and Amy imagined that the company would be bivouacking and was going to be damn cold.

The company had almost done their stage B training and Amy was looking forward to get to C+D at Fort Benning.

Amy finished her breakfast while she small talked with Toye about his girl back home, at one point Speirs walked in and Amy looked him right in the eyes, but he just stared at her with the same look he had been given her since she first met him, gone was the nice guy from this morning.

Amy couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, she thought they had made a connection, but as usually, she had imagined things.

Amy only luck with guys was bad luck and she always ended up being the little sister to a group of guys, once just once she would like to be the one a guy wanted, for more than some random fun.

After exercising the whole morning, which ended with Easy running the obstacle course, several times, Amy was looking forward to a light afternoon, she sat in the mess watching the guys pack away the spaghetti, she was trying not to puke, Winters had slipped her a sandwich with a wink, and Amy would owe him for eternity.

Suddenly the door swung open and Sobel was standing there "Easy company change of plans, we are running Currahee," Sobel said.

Amy sighed; she knew it was too good to be true, she was thankful she hadn't eaten any of the spaghetti.

Amy got third platoon ready and she tried to keep her men's spirits up while they were throwing up all of the half-digested spaghetti.

Amy was beat and so tired she was about to cry when she came down the mountain, she saw the men from Dog company looking at Easy and Speirs was looking at Amy, he gave her an encouraging smile, before he turned away.

Amy stumbled back to the barrack and just rolled up in a ball and fell asleep.

Lane and Katie couldn't wake her and the girls headed to the mess alone, they sat down with the boys.

Talbert noticed Amy was missing, Talbert and Amy shared a lot with each other and the fact that she didn't come to eat had him worried, she had only had a sandwich for lunch and Tab had noticed that she barely ate breakfast.

"Captain Hendrick, where is Amy, I mean Lieutenant Hunt" Talbert asked Katie

"She is sleeping, we couldn't wake her," Katie said

Talbert looked worried and Katie sighed and put her and over his "Look I worry about her to, but Amy will be fine, I am sure," Katie told Talbert

"yeah well, I am going to check on her any way," Talbert said.

He walked over to the barrack, the girls were staying in, he opened the door and saw Amy lying on her side, and she was sleeping.

Talbert went over and sat on down Amy's cod, he shook her lightly "Ames wake up, You ok?" Talbert look down at Amy.

She opened her eyes and looked at him "Yeah I am fine, just really tired Tab," She said.

"Ok, I will let it go for now, but you need to start to eat" Talbert said and stood up, he leaned down and pulled Amy's blanket over her.

He walked out and almost walked directly into Lieutenant Speirs, who had noticed Amy was absent from the evening meal.

"How is Lieutenant Hunt, private Talbert?" he asked

"Fine Sir, just exhausted" Talbert said.

"Good, Good, carry on private" Speirs said, and walked of, Talbert shook his head lightly, that man had an Erie way of just popping up every were, there was rumors that said Speirs tough and his men respected and feared him.

Talbert walked back to his barrack, word was they were moving out soon and he needed to start to decide what to take with him and what to leave behind, Talbert was looking forward to leaving Currahee behind and excited for what lay ahead of them.

Lane was called to regimental headquarter the next morning, she walked into Sinks office and the secretary told her to take a seat.

Lane wondered what she had done? she had been good for a while, not getting into trouble, and she knew the next big step was coming and she had to be good, or as good as, she could be anyway.

Sink yelled in from his office and Lane walked in, she stood at attention, "At ease" Sink said

"Captain Easterday, Easy needs an additional intelligence officer, any suggestion?" Sink asked

"Sir, I would recommend Lieutenant Nixon, I know he is the man for the job," Lane said

"Ok I guess you earned to appoint the officer you want to work with, I will make it happen" Sink said

Lane stood and waited for Sink to dismiss her, Sink just kept looking through his paper work, when he looked up and realized Lane was still standing there, he looked at her "You wanted something Captain" Sink said.

"No sir" Lane said

"Well go find Nixon and inform him about his new duties, dismissed Captain," Sink said and Lane saluted him, turned on her heel, and walked out the door.

She sighed and put her hat back on, now all she had to do was make up with Nixon and tell him, she was his new friend.

Lane walked over to Winters and Nixon's barrack and knocked on the door, she opened the door and walked in.

Nixon was putting away his dress uniform, Lane looked at him and smiled.

"Nix I am sorry about what I said, I had no right to say something like that, I hope you can forgive me," Lane said

"You are forgiven, I was drunk and wasn't thinking clear, but you are right it was probably for the best," Nixon said.

"Good because we are going to be working together, congrats and welcome to intelligence buddy" Lane said and threw Nixon a box with a second lieutenant bar in it.

Nixon opened it and Lane stepped up to him to pin it on him, she was quite close to him and after she pinned the pin on his collar, she looked into his eyes, their faces was only inches apart and for a moment, Lane thought he was going to kiss her.

The door opened and Winters stepped in, ruining the moment.

Nixon and Lane stepped away from each other and Winters looked between them with a smirk, "I miss anything," He asked

"No I was just giving Nix his new assignment, he is going to be working with me as an intelligence officer," Lane said

"Well and a promotion to congrats buddy" Winter said

"Yeah, well I am going to go" Lane said and hurried out the door.

When she came outside, she drew in a big breath, what was that?

Inside the barrack Nixon looked after Lane, not really sure what just went down, but he was curious, to see how this whole them working together would play out.

Intelligence, well no more Sobel, Nixon thought to himself, but he felt like he switched one tormentor for another.

After Nixon leaving second platoon, the platoon got Harry Welsh straight out of OCS, Harry transferred in from the

Welsh enlisted in the paratroopers in 1942. He was assigned to Fort Benning as part of the 82nd airborne.

While an enlisted man, Welsh was reportedly made a Sergeant and then "busted" to private six times for fighting. Three of his commanding officers saw his potential and recommended him for Officer candidate school.

Now he was at Toccoa getting the last taste of Sobel and Currahee, before the battalion was moving out.

Welsh and Winters became good friends and together they led second Platoon.

Harry had a bad habit; he talked to much about his fiancé Kitty and Winters sometimes had to get away from Harry and his Kitty stories.

Winters found himself heading to the hospital on one the evenings when he had enough of Harry.

He knew Katie was on call; he was looking forward to talk to her.

Winters liked the quiet doctor, she was extremely intelligent, and she was always one for good conversation and a quiet evening.

Katie was packing up supplies, she knew they would be heading out and she wasn't sure what kind of supplies they would have at Benning, Doc roe had offered to help, but Katie told him she needed a quiet evening.

She heard the door open and close, Katie saw Lieutenant Winters walk in to the ward; Katie walked out from the supply room and greeted the lieutenant.

"Dick, want can I do you for" Katie asked and smiled

"Well I was hoping you had time to talk for a while and maybe a cup of coffee" he said

"Well go sit down in my office and I will be right there, I just have to check my patients" Katie said

"How are the two privates" Winters asked

"Good the fever is going down" Katie said

Two privates from Dog company had been brought in a few days ago, with high fever; Katie had managed to get their fever down, but had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with them.

Doc Roe had tried some of his Grandma Cajun medicine and it seemed to help the Privates.

Winters went to Katie's office, he sat down and enjoyed the quiet, he could see Katie was in the progress of packing down her office, she didn't have a lot, but he could see some box filled with medical supplies and instruments, he had a conversation with Katie a couple of nights before about her role in the war.

Katie hoped to see combat and she wanted to be in the front at the aid station or at the nearest combat hospital, she would under no circumstances agree to stay in England and leave her friends.

Winters was impressed with her determination, and he hoped she would follow the battalion to where ever they were going, because with Katie near his men would be in good hands.

Katie stepped into the office, with a pot of coffee and she sat down, the two of them spend the night talking.

When Winters walked back to his barrack, he realized he would miss Katie if she stayed behind.


	3. The march on Atlanta

"So are you ready for this" Lane asked Amy and Katie.

It was December 1, 1942, second battalion was getting ready to march from Toccoa to Atlanta.

Three grueling days were a head of them and Amy was definitely not looking forward to the march.

The battalion moved out and marched towards Atlanta, at that Tuesday morning the first forward march sounded, the weather was unfavorable, across the though side road of the north Georgia mountains, the company set out in thick fog, they could only see a hundred yards a head and it lasted all morning. At noon, a slow drizzled started, and when they stopped for a midday meal, it got shitty cold.

That afternoon it started to pour down, mud was everywhere and it was freezing cold.

The first day they marched forty miles, they settled down for the night around Gainesville.

Katie went around to the men in the battalion making sure everybody was ok. She treated the guys she could treat on the spot.

The girls had gotten permission to bunk together and they were pitching their tent, next to second platoon,

Nixon had decided to stay with Welsh and Winters and the six officers were sharing a meal.

The boys from Easy were teasing the three girls, the girls usually ate with them in the mess, the men were them, and they knew when they were upstaged.

All of them was tired, walking forty miles was tough, but walking forty miles in full gear was even tougher, Katie had been busy when they stopped, looking after the men, who had blisters and were exhausted, the battalion had marched with pride singing while they marched.

The rumor of the march had spread and throughout the country and everywhere they were greeted by people in the small towns they passed through, they had even been offered rides, which they of course turned down.

One by one the officers retreated to the tents. Amy was tossing and turning, it was too damn cold she couldn't sleep; she was just too damn cold. She got out of the tent and walked down a couple of tents, she knew Speirs was in a tent just down the line, he shared it with a fellow lieutenant from Dog and it was big enough for the three of them.

Amy hoped he was still awake so she could ask if she could use him for body heat.

She was cold and desperate and with the heat that had been generated by the hug back at the camp, Amy was sure Speirs would keep her warm.

When she reached Speirs tent, she noticed he had already turned in for the night. Amy pulled her blankets closer around her and slipped in the tent, she snuggled into Speirs, she knew it was probably wrong, and violated all kinds of military regulation, but she didn't care.

Speirs woke up when he felt some one snuggle up to him, he barely opened his eyes, and saw Amy snuggled up to him; he pulled her closer and closed his eyes.

Lane woke up she was cold and she noticed the space next to her was empty, that explained why she was freezing.

She tried to pull her blanket closer around her, but it didn't help, she sighed and knew there was only one way she would get warm, she needed body heat and she would use Nixon to get what she needed.

She tripped over to the officer's tent, and got in, she laid down next to Nixon, snug under his blankets, and turned her back to him, she felt him put an arm around her waist and pull her closer in his sleep, Lane smiled and snuggled closer to him.

Winters woke up, he couldn't turn and he saw why, Captain Easterday was snuggled up to Nixon, not leaving enough room for all of them.

Winters got out of the tent and slipped into the girls. He noticed Katie was shaking in her sleep, he put his blankets over her and climbed under them, Katie turned towards him sighed and put her head on his chest and let out a content moan.

When Amy woke up the next morning she was still snuggled up to Speirs, she decided to head back before anyone noticed she was missing and before, Speirs woke up.

Amy slipped out from the tent, before she could slip all the way out a hand grabbed her wrist, Speirs with his eyes still closed, before he let her go he said "You can share my bed anytime lieutenant Hunt"

Amy blushed and hurried back to her own tent, when she opened the flap, she noticed Winters holding Katie, Amy couldn't help but snicker, Winters opened his eyes and looked at Amy "I won't ask where you been, if you keep this quiet" he said

"Deal, but where is Lane" Amy asked

"Next door" Winters said

Amy went to the next tent and tapped on the flap, Welsh pulled it back and looked at Amy "What can I do for you" He asked

"Could you wake Captain Easterday for me, please?" Amy said

A couple of minutes later Lane came out, Nixon was still fast asleep.

"Come on love, we need to get up" Amy said.

As the whole battalion woke up, they packed up and headed out, the march was particularly hard that day it was not only raining it was also hail, some men did not make it, but a least they fell head first, as Colonel Sink later said.

The company set up camp around Buford, the night came and went, the girls was sleeping next to the same men as the day before.

The next day they marched into the Oglethorpe campus at 4.30 in the afternoon, the Georgia power company had busses take the Company to the local country club, to get a hot showers.

That night Katie, Lane and Amy strolled down the streets of Atlanta, when they ran into Luz, Liebgott, Guarnere, and Talbert, the men asked the girls to join them, and they all went out for Dinner.

By the time Dinner ended Lane and Amy was so tired they could hardly stand, they decided to head back to camp, so did Katie.

As soon as they returned they got ready for bed, but all of them was reluctant to climb in, the three of them without realizing it, was waiting on their guys.

Finally they decided to head to bed they were so tired that they did not even noticed the cold, that night.

Amy woke up and looked around her, she was not in her own tent, she could feel someone was holding on to her, she turned around to see Speirs holding on to her.

Amy turned around and studied him, she loved he rugged look, he was a handsome man, no doubt, he was just hard to figure out, during the day he pretty much ignored her, but yet he had cared enough to carry her to his tent so he could sleep next to her.

Amy was puzzled; she started to move so she could leave. Speirs still sleepy just held on to her tighter, "Don't move, just for once stay, so I can say good morning to you" Amy turned around and looked at Speirs, "well good morning" She said

Speirs kissed her on top of her head "Good morning to you too, now get out of here before you get caught," He said

Lane woke up snuggled up to Nixon and with very little room around her; she realized that there was four people in the tent instead of three and two of them did not belong there.

She was not complaining, but Sink might if he found out, Lane woke Nixon and Winters by throwing dirty socks at them and telling them to get the hell out of there.

Katie woke up confused wondering what all the commotion was all about, she noticed Lane smiling at her "What" Katie asked

The other Captain smiled at her "Sleep nice next to Dick" Lane smirked

"Shut it" Easterday, when is the truck getting here and where is Hunt" Katie asked

"The trucks are here in about an hour, Amy is with Speirs that's where she has disappeared to the past night" Lane said

"Well I be darned" Katie said.

Amy came strolling back, but suddenly she heard "Easy company front and center", Amy grabbed her gear in a hurry and hauled butt to the place where Sobel was waiting.

Sobel just starred at the men "Easy move out" Sobel said and pointed to the truck there was waiting to drive the company to Fort Benning.

* * *

Lane and Katie got a ride from a major from regiment, when they arrived at the camp, Katie walked towards the hospital, to see if all her supplies had been dropped off, it looked like all the boxes was there, and Katie sighed and started to sort through the stuff and putting it away.

Twenty minutes later Roe and the medics from dog and fox walked in and in no time the place was clean and ready to receive patients. The doctor who had run the place before Katie, had been transferred out and Katie could see that he had been a slop.

Katie met the nurses they were surprised she was a woman, but had no problem with it.

Lane and Nixon was to report to Sink, so that's where they were heading, after the got all their gear stashed away, Lane, Katie and Amy was sharing a tent and Nixon was bunking with Welsh and Winters.

Sobel had his own tent and guys were glad they didn't had to share with him.

When they arrived, Nixon knocked on the door and from his office Sink called "enter"

Nixon and Lane walked in and immediately stood at attention.

"At ease" Sink said

Nixon and Lane was puzzled why were they there, had someone squealed, about where the girls had spent the night during the march.

Nixon would bet his commission, that none of the officers would want it to be common knowledge, where they spend their nights during the march.

"Lieutenant Nixon, captain Easterday, since you are the second battalion intelligence officers, your jump training will be an accelerated affair. You will need to be prepared for jumping into enemy territory, before the rest of the battalion" Sink said and looked at Nixon and Lane.

Lane swallowed and Nixon gave her a side glance "Yes sir" They replied

"Good you will start your jump training tomorrow morning with a jump instructor, report to the hanger at 6 am , now get" Sink said

Nixon and Lane saluted the colonel and walked out, when they came out side they looked at each other and smiled.

This was what they had been waiting for, they were going to get their jump wings.

While Katie was at the hospital and Lane was at regiment, Amy found herself strolling around the camp looking for Speirs, when she found him she smiled at him and started to walk over towards him, but stopped when she the look in his eyes.

He just glared at her, again the warm and caring look was gone and he just nodded at her and kept walking.

Amy felt the blood rush from her face, so this was how it was going to be, he was going to run hot and cold, well forget that, she had better things to do with her time.

Amy walked back to Easy company and walked straight into the arms of Floyd Talbert, she hugged him, and sobbed a little, Talbert held her at arm's length and looked at her "What did Sparky do?" he asked her.

Amy just leaned into Talbert, "He was just being himself and ignoring me, why the hell are men so complicated" Amy asked and looked up at Talbert.

"We aren't complicated, talk about complicated why are you so hung up on him" Talbert asked her.

"Don't know, I just am, well I better get my head on straight, Can't wait for tomorrow, are you guys ready?" Amy asked him.

Amy was the leader of third platoon, it had Perconte, Popeye Wynn, Mike Ranney, Shifty Powers, Ramirez, Tipper, Talbert, skinny Sisk, Lipton and others.

Amy who was just barely a head of the guys, like the rest of the officers, sometimes the material they thaught, was material they had been instructed in the day before.

The Platoon leaders was doing their first jump, just before the company, they started a half day earlier, so Amy was to be given instructed about how to pack a Shute and jump training in the morning, she then had to instruct the men in the afternoon, this made her a little nervous, but the jump instructors at Fort Benning were excellent and were more than willing to help or so she heard.

Amy held on tight to Talbert while they walked over to the mess, she was hoping the other girls would be there, so she could get some female perspective on her problems.

She had no such luck, all the nurses, medics and the doctor were busy at the hospital and while they were eating, they could hear, Nixon and Lane chasing each other around the camp, they were laughing and enjoying the little time in freedom they had left.

Lane had suggested they play a game they had invented, when they were kids, it was a form of hide and go seek, it consisted of two parts, once you were found, you had ten seconds, to run and if the person who found didn't catch you before you found a new place to hide, well that person had to count again and start over, they had driven their moms to the edge of sanity, at dinner parties playing this game.

Lane's mom was usually disappointed with Lane, because she was unable to sit still like a proper young lady and Nixon knew he just disappointed his parent's period.

Nixon caught Lane and they tumbled to the ground, Lane ended up on her back, with Nixon on top of her.

They were face to face and suddenly they went silent, Nixon closed in on Lane and kissed her, Lane kissed him back, neither off them realized they had ended up just in front of the officers barrack and Sobel was looking down at them.


	4. Love and other stuff

Hello this chapter have been edited on May 28 th.

Thank you for reading and your reviewievs

* * *

Liebgott had been watching Lane and Nixon out of the window, he was a little jealous of their relationship, not that he was interested in the Captain, it's just it must be nice to have someone here who knew you, really knew you and with whom you could have the kind of fun he just witnessed.

"Hey guys come check this out, Nixon was kissing Captain Easterday and Sobel busted them," Liebgott yelled to the rest of Easy.

The guys pilled over and looked out the window, they saw Nixon and Lane looking embarrassed, but they could tell Captain Easterday was amused, but also slightly pissed, the men started to make bets about who would win Sobel or the Captain.

Most of the guys would put their money on Lane, but Perconte and Toye was convinced that the Captain was too afraid of Sink to do anything stupid.

* * *

Lane and Nixon got on their feet, Lane was about dying, this situation was hilarious, she was trying not to laugh, however for Nixon this was another story, Sobel still out ranked him, and he was thinking like hell how to get out this one.

Once again, Lane had gotten him in trouble, he should be used to it by now, she had after all done it all her life.

Sobel looked at Nixon "lieutenant you might want to get your uniform in order" Sobel said

Nixon saluted him and straightened his uniform, Sobel then looked at Lane "Captain Easterday, do you think it's appropriate to be rolling around with Lieutenant Nixon" he said.

"Well I don't really think what I choose to do or not do is any of your business, if you have failed to notice it, you don't out rank me Sobel and even if you did, you are not my commanding officer, and last time I checked you weren't lieutenant Nixon's either, so if you will excuse me, I would like to get to the mess and so would the lieutenant" Lane just stared Sobel right in the eye.

Sobel didn't like to be corrected in front of Nixon, Sobel had always been jealous of Nixon's and Winters friendship and their relationship with the men

He had hoped when Lane showed up at Toccoa, she would pay some attention to him, she was after all a rather pretty girl, but when he realized she knew Nixon and he saw the bond she started to form with the other girls, Sobel knew she would never notice him.

Sobel stepped aside to let the two of them pass, just as they reached the door Sobel spoke up "Captain Easterday, this isn't over, let's see what Sink has to say about this" with that he just walked of.

Lane clenched her fists and kept walking toward the mess, when she walked into the mess, she sighed, turned and gave Nixon a smile. She turned around and headed towards the guys from Easy and Amy.

She sat down next to Bull and Liebgott, and smiled at them, Liebgott looked at her and started to laugh "Captain Easterday, so Nix, well, well, you going to get in trouble with Sink now?" Liebgott said

Lane shrugged "probably, I can handle it, I don't know about the lieutenant though, maybe I should find Winters so he won't drink himself to oblivion" Lane said

Lane stayed and talked with Bull for a bit, she kept an eye on Nixon the whole time, he was sitting with Speirs, who were not talking either, the two of them was just deep in thought.

Lane got up and went out to find Winters, she knew she could find him in his quarters or at the hospital, everybody knew he had a thing for Katie, well everybody but Katie and Winters.

She found him in his quarters, she knocked on the door and walked in, Winters got his feet to salute her, Lane just waved him of "No need for that Dick, I am here to ask you a personal favor" Lane said.

Winters sat down and looked at Lane waiting for her to continue, Lane paced for a minute before she sat down.

"Ok Nixon and I might have gotten a little carried away, fooling around" Lane said and paused.

Winters lifted his eyebrow and smiled at Lane "Ok don't even think that" Lane said

She paused again, before she explained what had happened and how Nixon had acted and she was worried, Nixon usually dealt with his problems in one way, by drinking vat 69 and lots of it, with the jump training coming up Lane needed him sober and in tip top shape.

"Lane I will do my best, I promise" Winters said

"Thanks Dick, seen Katie today" Lane asked him, Lane smiled and walked out.

Winters shook his head, Captain Easterday was trouble, but there was no one else he would want to collect Intel, she was damn good at her job.

Winter returned to his work, he was excited about the next day, the start of jump training. The rest of the officers was just as excited.

He worked for about an hour, he stopped and looked at the clock it was almost eight in the evening and Nixon wasn't back

He headed out the door to look for Nixon when he bumped into Katie, he smiled at her and she smiled back and stopped to talk for a minute, Dick could tell she was tired and when she yawned he told her to head to bed, they could talk in the morning.

Winters went to the officers club, but Nixon wasn't there, he walked out again and looked around, if Nixon wasn't here, where was he then?

Winters found Nixon leaning up against a jeep, looking over at the girls quarters, he was smoking, but at least he looked sober.

"Hey what's up with you?" Winters asked Nix

"I think I screwed up, I kissed Lane and that's not the bad part, because I really wanted to do that, but Sobel busted us," Nixon said.

Winters put his hand on Nixon's shoulder "Sorry, but you should be careful, Sobel will cause trouble you know that" Winters said.

"Yeah I know" Nixon said

"So why are you here staring at Lanes quarter?" Winters asked

"I don't know, I think I am going to head back to quarters," Nixon said.

"Yeah good idea" Winters said.

The two men headed back, after settling in Nixon laid awake for a while, he couldn't believe he had kissed Lane it wasn't like he had ever thought about it before, it was just at that very moment he couldn't help himself, it was like a magnetic force pulled him to her, and it had felt good and right, so right, he just regretted not talking to her about the kiss, Nixon sighed and fell asleep.

Lane was awake she was listening to Katie's snoring and it sounded like Amy was dreaming.

Lane had been surprised when Nix kissed her, but she liked it, she always thought, if they ever got in that situation it would feel like kissing her brother, but it hadn't far from, it had felt incredible, now they just had to find a way of working together.

The next morning Lane rolled out of bed at five am, she didn't want to wake up, Katie and Amy so she hurried to put on her uniform and headed to the hanger, on her way there she met Nixon and they walked in silence, when they got there the hanger was empty

Lane looked at Nixon and shoot him a smile. "Good morning"

Nixon studied Lane and searched her face for any regret, fear or anger, but all he found was a happy Lane, Nixon let out a breath he hadn't realized he had held back.

"Good morning" He said and stroked Lanes chin, Lane could feel her blood run faster, she leaned in to kiss him, but before he could kiss her their instructor walked in, and Lane turned away from him, paying full attention to the jump instructor.

They spend the morning being hoist up in a harness jumping from different platforms, around eight they learned how to pack their chutes doing it over and over again, and over lunch even more jumping from platforms, in the afternoon the had class room instruction.

The jump training went well for everybody,

They learned to pack their own chutes and prepare their equipment to be dropped in an airborne operation.

They also made drops from the 250-foot free-fall towers.

The training was exhausting and the girls was too exhausted to think about anything else than training and Katie still had to keep up with her patients at the hospital.

After completion of the training, they made their 5 qualifying jumps from an airplane in flight, the officers was the first to get their wings.

Amy was on a plane with Speirs and other officers from Dog company, she was nervous and having Speirs sitting next to her wasn't helping, just before the jump light came on, he took her hand, he noticed how cold it was and Speirs noticed Amy was pale and even more thin than last he talked to her.

He made a mental note to talk to her or with Captain Hendrick, when the jump light came on the jumpmaster stood up.

"stand up, hook up, equipment check" He yelled over the engine noise Amy noticed Speirs hand linger on her arm, and the she moved up and jumped out of the plane, it was awesome and she couldn't wait to do it again and again.

After making the five jumps, the men and officer received the most coveted prize, the Parachutist's Badge. Of those who had begun the jump training, 98, 7 % finished with their silver jump wings.

Lane and Nixon had gotten their wings on Tuesday, today was Thursday.

Lane and Nixon had been missing, since Tuesday, rumors was that they already had been dropped into Europe, the truth wasn't that excited they were at Camp McKall in North Carolina getting training in tactical war fare.

While Lane was away and Katie was busy at the hospital, Amy felt alone, Speirs was still distant and she really hadn't seen him since the last jump, she had only seen him passing by and he still hadn't talked to her, which made her both sad and angry.

Sad because Amy had to admit she really liked him and angry because she felt like he ignored her on purpose.

Amy was currently waiting for Katie, she was leaning against the hospital, and it was almost too cold to move.

A nurse walked out and looked around, the nurse was about 5, 6, had a deep shade of chestnut red/brown hair.

"Lieutenant Hunt" She asked Amy

"Yes" Amy answered

"Hey I am lieutenant MacKall, Captain Hendrick send me to find you, she is treating one of the officers from Dog company and she wondered if you wanted to come help her" Lieutenant MacKall said

"No thanks, I'll just stay here" Amy said

"Oh Lieutenant, I think you really want to come and help out on this one, she is treating a certain dark haired lieutenant from Dog Company who is in agonizing pain" The lieutenant said

Amy realized what Lieutenant MacKall was trying to tell her, Amy pushed of the building and followed the Lieutenant inside.

They walked down the hall talking about life at Benning and when they were half way to the examination room they were on a first name basis. Lieutenant MacKalls first name was Mia and her brother was the one Camp MacKall was named after.

"So Speirs hurt himself" Amy asked

"He sure did, jumping of the back of a truck, he sprained his ankle and pulled a hamstring, the doctor is torturing him a little for being mean to you" Mia said with a chuckle.

Just before the reach, the examination room they passed Sergeant Lipton and Amy noticed Mia blushing a little, when he saluted them.

"You do know he is married right" Amy said to Mia

"Yes I know, but he is so good looking and such a gentleman" Mia said

"I know, he is my platoon" Amy said.

Amy walked in the door to the examination room, Speirs was twitching in pain and Katie was standing over him, examining his leg, with a huge smile on her face.

Amy couldn't help but smile, Mia had followed Amy into the room and was looking down, so she wouldn't laugh, the big scary lieutenant Speirs, was at the mercy of three women, who would go out the way to make him feel a little pain.

"Did you hurt yourself Sir" Amy asked in an innocent voice.

Speirs turned his head "Oh god Amy, I am glad you are here, she is hurting me on purpose" Speirs said

"And what do you want me to do about it" Amy asked Speirs and tried to keep back a chuckle

"Just do something" He said, just then Katie squeezed down on the pulled hamstring.

Katie bandaged Speirs "You are good to go, no jumps in a week buddy" She told him.

Speirs got up and shot Katie a cold stare, he walked past Amy, took her hand and pulled her with him, before Amy could say anything, they were outside and Speirs dragged her to a secluded place of the fort.

He pushed her up against the wall and looked at her with an amused look in his eyes,

"So you weren't going to help me at all" he said.

Amy felt her knee buckle under her and her mouth went dry so she just shook her head.

Speirs knew he had her right where he wanted her, he could kiss her or just walk away and she would still be surprised and left wanting more.

"Well then I won't share my bed with you again," He said and stepped even closer to her so he had her pinned up against the wall.

Amy's knee gave out and Speirs had to hold her up, he leaned in and kissed her, he then turned around and left.

Amy sat down on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest, she put her head on her knees and sobbed.

That's how Lipton found her, when he touched her she startled and then fell into his arms crying, she cried for the way Speirs treated her, for all her worries and fears and for the men in her company who had their youth ruined by the war.

Then she collapsed into Lipton's arms and passed out, he carried her to the hospital, where he handed her over to Katie.

Speirs had seen Lipton carry Amy to the hospital and ran into the hospital, he was stopped by Mia and Lipton.

"Lieutenant, sir wait here, the doctors are looking at her" Lipton said

Speirs shot Lipton one of his ice cold stares, he ran his hand thru his hair and turned around and left the hospital.

The next few days Amy drifted in and out of consciousness, she could have sworn Speirs was with her at night and during the day she could feel, Katie, Mia, Talbert and Lipton there, even Winters had been by and had sat with her.

On day seven she woke up and saw Lane sitting with her, looking at a bunch of papers, Nixon was standing leaning up against the wall and Amy could swear that something was going on between them, they seemed very relaxed.

Lane notice Amy was awake and put down her papers, she looked over at Nixon, and "Nix go get Katie" She said and sat down on Amy's bed

"How you doing sweetie" Lane asked

"Like I been beat with something big" Amy said.

"Just lay down Katie will be right here" Lane said.

Katie walked in and looked at Amy "so glad you decided to join us again" Katie said

Katie explained to Amy that she had pneumonia and when Lipton brought her in, her fever had been thru the roof, but they had managed to get the fever down and the last 24 hours she had been fever free.

Just when Katie finished the door opened and a very worried Speirs was standing at the door.


	5. We Danced

"You get out, get out" Amy yelled at the very shocked and confused lieutenant.

"Get out and don't come back" Amy didn't want to see lieutenant Speirs, she was sick and tired of him playing games with her.

Speirs took a step forward and at the same time, Lane got up and Nixon pushed of the wall.

Nixon walked over and looked at Speirs "Why don't we go out and get some air"

Nixon turned the young Lieutenant around and pushed him out the door, when Nixon closed the door, the two of them could hear Amy yelling and calling Speirs every name in the book, ending with if see had to see him again she would shoot him, before she broke and cried.

Speirs and Nixon walked outside and before Speirs could make his escape, Nixon put his hand on his shoulder.

"While at MacKall, Lane and I had plenty of time to talk. Lane told me about Amy's childhood, her mom died when she was a little girl and after her mother's death, her dad started to drink, he used Amy as a punching bag when he was drunk and had all the remorse in the world when he got sober, he swore everything would be alright, he swore he was going to change and not drink anymore and as a child, Amy believed him"

Nix continued "The only reason Amy isn't all screwed up and ruined is because of Captain Hendrick, her and her family took Amy in when her dad was drunk and protected her"

Nix searched the other man's face for a reaction"So you have to make up your mind, do you want Amy or not? if not let her go, that way she can find someone who does. You being all hot one minute and cold and distant the next reminds her of her experience with her dad" Nixon looked the other man in the eye and noticed the emotion there ran through his eyes, while he was telling him about Amy.

Speirs felt the rage run through him, how could anyone treat Amy like that, she was a sweet and caring girl, who was ready to help anyone in need, she cared about the men and everything Sobel had to throw at her she could take.

He felt sorry for the little abused child, the small girl with big eyes looking up at her father and all she got was a punch in the face.

Speirs knew the battalion was headed to war and he didn't know if he could deal with a broken Amy and lead his men, it was probably better if he stayed away from her, that way none of them would be distracted, he just needed to get her out of his mind.

At the hospital Amy was throwing a fit, she was confused and cried, when Speirs didn't come back when Nixon did, she knew he had put distance between them again and he would avoid her if he could.

Amy was so messed up, that Lane had to call Katie who had to sedate her.

Katie walked out of the hospital, she put on her garrison hat and leaned up against the hospital and sighed, it was bad, really bad Speirs had broken Amy.

Since getting into the Amy had started to heal getting her self-confidence, back, the confidence her father had stripped her of growing up.

Katie remembered the first time she had seen Amy it was the first day of high school, Amy had been the poor girl without shoes and Katie had taken her in, her family had tried to give her the love and stability her home so desperately lacked.

I had only taken lieutenant Speirs to break down Amy, the strong "I am in the Army, so fuck you" Amy.

Katie hated him for it, Amy was her sister in every way, but biological and you don't mess with a sister unpunished.

Katie walked towards the officer's quarters; she was trying to decide what she should do to the son of a bitch.

"Captain Hendrick, Captain" A voice called out

Katie turned around to see Winters standing a few feet away. "Dick, what can I do you for" She asked

"Well I was hoping, we could go to the mess for some coffee, but you look like you are on a mission" Winters said.

"Well I was trying to think of different ways, to kill Speirs without getting caught" Katie said.

"Sparky causing troubles for you or Amy?" Winters asked

"Amy, she is falling apart" Katie said

"I am sure Amy will be fine, the men however would not be able to function without you, so how about you think it over and have some coffee with me" Winters said.

"might as well" Katie said.

Katie and Winters walked to the mess together, once they got there they sat down and talked about what was about to happen next.

Nixon had told Winters that they were all headed to MacKall. Katie couldn't wait to get to MacKall there was a brand new hospital there with 1200 beds, and the hospital was fully staffed. Katie had put her hand on the table, while she was talking to, at one point Winters leaned forward and put his hand over hers, Katie noticed it, but didn't try to move, she just enjoyed the warm traveling up her arm from his touch.

They sat and talked for about a half an hour when they were interrupted by colonel Sinks runner."Excuse me Captain, the colonel wants to see you"

Katie looked down on her hand, winters still had his over hers and he squeezed it lightly and got up.

He held his hand out to Katie and she took it Winters turned and looked at Katie, he smiled "you don't mind, do you" he said and looked at their hands.

Katie smiled; it felt so amazing "No, not all"

Winters tucked at her arm "Come on, I'll walk you to Sinks office" Together they walked to the office.

Just outside the building Winters let go of Katie's hand and kissed her cheek "I will see you later," he said

Katie put a hand over the place Winters kissed her and smiled to herself, she turned and walked straight towards Sinks office, she knocked on the door, all she heard from inside was "In"

Katie stood at attention in front of Sink "At ease Captain, sit," he said

Katie sat down and waited for what was next.

"It's been decided that Easy is to have a field nurse and I was told to ask you who you wanted to take with you," Sink said

There was no doubt in Katie's mind, Mia who else and Katie knew Mia would follow sergeant Lipton to the end of the world if asked.

"Lieutenant MacKall would be my first choice sir" Katie said.

"Lieutenant MacKall it is then" Colonel Sink said.

"would that be all sirs?" Katie said.

"No I been meaning to tell you and the other gals you been doing an outstanding job so keep it up, now get" Sink said.

Katie got on her feet and saluted Sink turned on her toes and walked out.

Outside she put on her Garrison hat and let out a breath, turning around she saw Lipton walking towards the mess, it looked like he was upset. Katie wondered if Sobel had pulled one over the company again, she followed him towards the mess before she could reach him; Mia reached him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey serge what's up, you look like you are off your rocker" Mia said as she walked into the mess with Lipton, "hey lieutenant MacKall" Lip said.

Mia and Lipton scrounged some food and coffee and sat down.

Something was definitely up with the serge, he didn't look at her, he was silent and he looked like someone who just lost his best friend.

"Come on tell me serge what is the matter with you" Mia urged Lip.

Lipton looked at her and turned his head, he looked out on the men patrolling around the fort.

"I got a letter today" He finally said.

"was it bad news" Mia asked.

"You can call it that" Lipton said.

"Why what did it say" Mia asked

"My wife is leaving me" he said

"Oh god I am so sorry, why?" Mia asked she was a little curious to why someone would leave a man like Lip.

"She is tired of waiting for me, and she found someone else" He said.

"Sorry Lip, if I can do anything or if you need to talk, you just come find me" Mia Told him.

"Thanks, but we won't be here for long, we are moving on to MacKall" Lipton said.

"Yes so I heard" Mia said with a sigh

Just then Katie walked into the mess, she found Mia and Lipton sitting together, she smiled when she noticed how Mia was staring at Lipton, oh yeah, and no way, she was going to turn down the offer to go with easy.

Katie walked over to the table where Mia and Lipton was sitting, "Mia I have a suggestion for you," she said and sat down next to the nurse.

"Oh yeah what" Mia asked Katie

"How would you like to be Easy's field nurse?" Katie asked Mia

"Really I would love to" Mia said and beamed

Lipton excused himself and walked out of the mess, he was happy Mia was going with them. She sure was a pretty little thing and he had become very fond of her, but he had hoped she would stay at a field hospital, if not in the states, and then in England where she would be safe, now he had to worry about her and fight a war.

Lipton shook his head; he had to admit the divorce didn't surprise him.

The letter from his wife had been fewer and fewer and he hadn't taken his time to write, not like Johnny Martin and is wife who wrote each other every week.

Well good thing was he didn't have to worry about finding a place to stay, the army would supply him with everything he needed for the next year or so and when the war ended then he could worry about a future.

"Welcome to camp MacKall" Lane said as she opened the door to the heated barrack and the cots with mattress. The camp was clearly a staging area and the girls even had their own shower room. So along with the five movie theatres, six huge beer gardens and a complete all-weather airfield it felt like heaven.

Mia was standing at the door, looking sad and with tears in her eyes, Lane walked over to her and hugged her "I know it must hell to be here"

Mia just nodded and stepped into the barrack.

Katie and Amy, who had made a full recovery and gotten her good mood back, looked at Lane with questions in their eyes.

Mia turned and smiled a little smile. "The Camp was named after my brother"

They all knew they story about PVT. John MacKall, who died the day the construction of the camp started, he was the first paratrooper to die in combat.

The girls got settled and decided to take a walk around the camp to get a feel of the place, Mia and Katie needed to find the hospital, when they stepped out of the barrack, they all noticed Speirs walking by he just looked at them and saluted Katie and Lane.

"I take it you two haven't talked yet?" Lane said to Amy

"Nope and I don't care" Amy said and stalked towards one of the beer gardens, hoping she for once could get some descent food.

They sat down and it wasn't long before they had company at the table, Nixon came to eat with them, before he sat down, he leaned over and kissed Lane softly on the lips.

The rest of the girls stared at her; Lane just shrugged "Who do you think kept me warm all those nights when I was alone"

They all sat and talked for little while and before they knew it Winters, Welsh, Talbert and Luz all joined them.

Nixon asked if anybody needed anything from the bar and he went up to get buy a round.

"So you and nix" Katie asked Lane

Lane blushed "I know, weird, it just happened one night here, and I haven't been able to keep my hands of him since" Lane said with a big smile on her face.

Lane leaned and whispered to Katie "How about you and Winters, he keeps looking at you" Lane said

"I honestly don't know, we have only held hands and only kiss on the cheek, it's just going slow I guess" Katie said.

"And Amy still hates, tall, dark and Sparky" Lane asked

"I don't think she hates him, she misses him, but he ignores her all the time, they haven't talked at all" Katie said.

Just then Speirs walked in and the table became almost silent. Talbert wanted to beat the fucker for hurting Amy and the rest of the table just disliked him, except Amy, she wished he would walk over and drags her away and tells her how much he wanted her.

….

"There is a dance this weekend" Mia walked into the barrack and threw her stuff on her cot

All she got some less the enthusiastic answers from her bunk mates.

Katie was busy at the hospital, Lane and Amy, wasn't in the mood to go to a dance. Nixon and Lane had just been home on leave and it had been less than comfortable, it had been really awkward, they hadn't told anybody about their relationship and both of them had almost gone crazy not being able to touch each other.

Mia looked around the room "Come on guys, leave you're worries' behind for one night and let your hair down and dance"

Katie got up," Well we better go dress shopping then, who do we have fool to get some passes to town" Katie said.

"Sink" the rest of the girls said at the same time

"well I guess that's me then" Lane said.

Lane walked up to head quarters and knocked on Sinks door

"In" Sink yelled

Lane opened the door and hoped she could lure some passes out of Sink.

"Sir" Lane said and saluted Sink.

"At ease, what can I do for you Captain" Sink said

"Well I was wondering if it would be possible for the girls and I to get a pass to town, before the dance on Saturday, we need to get some ladies stuff" Lane said.

"Well I guess I can't deny you girls a chance to be ladies for once" Sink said and handed Lane four passes for town.

Lane walked triumphantly into the barrack and threw the passes at Mia, "Got the passes now what" Lane asked her

"Leave it to me" Mia said.

The next day after drills, the girls headed to town and found the only dress store in town.

There weren't a whole lot to choose from, but they decided to get the same dress in different colors, and new shoes.

Sobel busted the whole company all week, but they lived through it. Saturday evening at eight they girls were ready; they walked over to the dance hall. Some of the girls from town were there and Amy noticed a girl throwing herself at Speirs, he looked like he wanted to be left alone. Amy quickly turned her head and smiled when Talbert asked her to dance. Amy danced with the men from her company all night; at one point she noticed Lane and Nixon were gone. Katie talked to Winters all night holding hands under the table and Lipton who needed to forget, he had decided to get really drunk and Mia had to escort him back to barracks.

Speirs watched Amy dance around with boys from Easy all night, he could feel himself getting jealous and wanting to rip her out of their arms every time they held her tight.

Having had enough of it he walked over and tapped Bill on the shoulder "mind if I cut in" he said

"No sir" Bill said and stepped back.

Amy looked at Bill pleading him not to leave her, but Speirs just pulled her into his arms, just as a slow song started.

Amy looked over to where the boys from Easy were they were all giving Speirs the evil look.

Speirs pulled her close and Amy put her head on his chest and breathed his scent in so she would remember it when he pushed her away again.

The song ended but none of them noticed they were both in a bobble where only they existed.

Amy looked up at Speirs with tears in her eyes "Are you going to leave me now" She asked him and put her head on his chest again.

Speirs pulled her closer "I can't ever leave you, but I might go away once in awhile, but I will always be back" He said.

Amy nodded against his chest and Speirs let go of her, he walked straight towards the table where the easy men was gathered, he found Amy's coat. The men were staring at him and Amy.  
Amy didn't noticed and she headed towards the door, before Speirs could leave Luz stopped him "Please take good care of her sir" He said

Speirs put a hand on Luz shoulder "don't worry I will and if I fail, I know you men will take care of her for me" Speirs said and walked out.

Outside Amy was waiting for him, he took her hand and walked her back to her barrack, he wish they were any but at an army camp, getting ready to go to war.

When they stopped in front of the barrack, Speirs took Amy's head between his hands and look her straight in the eyes.

"I will never leave you, I might be distant at times and there might be times where I don't talk to you, but it's never your fault, my feelings for you will never change, I need you to understand, sometimes I push people away, but I will always, always be back, you are the most important person in my life and knowing you might be killed or wounded is killing me, I swear I will take care of you" And then he kissed her and disappeared.

Amy left alone wanting more; more kisses, more loving words, just… more.

When she turned around she noticed Katie and Winters walking toward their barrack in deep conversation, Amy slipped into the barrack, Lane wasn't there, but Mia was, she was sulking, so Amy got ready for bed waiting for Katie to get in, so Mia didn't have to tell what happened with Lip twice.

It was common knowledge that Lipton's wife had left him and his bench drinking that night had proofed that he needed to blow off steam.

Katie came in and closed the door, she leaned up against it and sighed, "I swear, I am never going to get to that man, months and still he just kisses my cheek.

Then she saw Mia's face. "What's up with you" she asked

"Bloody fucking Lipton I  
want to kill him" Mia said.

"What happened" Amy asked

Mia continued to tell them what had happened, Lipton had gotten so drunk he had a hard time standing, Mia had volunteered to walk him home because there was no way he was going out alone, he would have ended up in a ditch.

When Mia had finally managed to get him into bed, he pulled her to him and looked at her straight in the eyes and it had taken all Mia had in her not to jump him, he looked at her and said "God you are beautiful" and then just before he passed out he called her his wife's name, and that had hurt.

"don't worry about it, everyone can see that man is interested in you" Katie said

"yeah it will work itself out, don't worry" Amy said

Katie looked at Amy "I take it things are good with Sparky" Katie said

"Yeah we are good" Amy said and smiled

The girls climbed into bed, thinking about the men in their heart.


	6. Training

While Easy were at MacKall the training intensified, Amy and Lane had to jump with other small arms, just not riffles, their beloved Thompson's. Amy was exhausted and Lane was able to sneak of every night to cuddle up to Nixon.

* * *

The battalion was going on a three-day maneuver; its main focus was on quick troop movements and operating behind enemy lines.

Around dusk the platoon leaders was shown their locations on a map, and then told where to be in the morning.

Winters managed to get the company in a textbook position for an ambush, they were waiting for morning when they were told to expect an attack by enemy troops.

Suddenly Popeye, who were made Sobel's runner, came strolling into their position. Amy was happy to see him, she missed him in her platoon, and he ended up staying the night, catching up on some sleep.

Tipper was, against his will, assisting Sobel with map reading and such, he made sure Sobel got more confused than usual, he made Sobel's compass disappear. The men had made a deal, if they could make Sobel screw up enough, maybe he would be replaced, so everybody had to help out.

Eventually Sobel found his Company and they were sitting tight, which made Sobel jumpy.

Amy was seriously considering killing him, he kept pacing, saying they were in the wrong position.

Winters kept telling him they should sit tight and let the enemy come to them, but Sobel pulled rank and Amy and Winters had no choice, but to obey.

The Company fell out and was immediately killed by Dog company, who in this case posed as the enemy.

Amy couldn't help but notice the smirk on Speirs face and she just gave him a dirty look.

* * *

"Captain Hendrick you might want to come and take a look at this" Mia said and walked into Katie's office

Katie was finishing up some charts from the night shift, her and Mia was about to go of shift when Mia called her.

"What is it, I just want to shower find Dick and talk him into taking a nap with me" Katie said.

"Well you want to check this one out" Mia said

"What is it" Katie said

"Well Sobel hurt his foot, on the last jump" Mia said

Katie got up and followed Mia to the examination room Sobel was in; Sobel was there with his loyal sergeant Evans.

"So Captain Sobel you hurt yourself" Katie couldn't keep the smirk of her face

Katie checked out his foot and bandaged it up and told him, that he had to stay of it.

Sobel and Evans walked out; Katie could hear Sobel mumbling something about conducting a surprise inspection at the Easy barrack.

"Mia come on, we got to go grab your stuff and let's move" Katie said.

She knew they had to get to Easy's barrack before Sobel and clean out the boy's footlockers.

Mia and Katie ran to the barrack and cleaned out all non army issued material and clothing they could find. They found a lot of quite surprising stuff, pornography and a lot of condoms; they couldn't help but giggle and they knew they would have some leverage over the boys from now on.

Katie and Mia hid around the corner from Easy's barracks and waited, they saw Sobel enter and about tilted over with laughter when they heard Sobel growling over not being able to find any contraband, he knew something was up, he just have to find out who was behind, the clearing out of the lockers.

When the guys came back from maneuver, they were met with turned over footlockers and missing personal items.

If there was a man in Easy that didn't hated Sobel they did now.

While the men tried to get their stuff back together, Mia and Katie walked in, holding their personal items.

"We didn't do it, but we did save your personal stuff" Mia said

"You guys are life savers" Lipton said.

Mia blushed, they hadn't really spoken since the night of the dance and she missed their talks at the mess.

Mia gave him a little smile and walked out of the barrack.

Katie looked at Lipton "You need to talk to her" She said and walked out.

* * *

She headed right for the shower and after finishing, she had one goal and one goal only; to find Winters and take a nap.

Katie walked over to the officers barrack and knocked on the door, Winters opened, a smile spread across his face when he saw her standing there, he could tell she was exhausted and he guessed it had been a crazy night at the hospital, with all the maneuvers going on, a lot of injured men came in, not wounded, but injured from tripping over tree roots, head injuries and so on.

Winters opened the door and guided Katie to his cot, he knew it was naptime, he didn't have the time to sleep, but he knew Katie would keel over and fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Katie curled up and pulled Winters down with her "You stay with me, you need some rest to, doctor's orders" Katie said.

Winters laid down and just enjoyed holding Katie in his arms, Katie turned around so she was facing him, she looked him straight in the eyes "Dick I need you to kiss me now, no more gentleman" She said

Winters wasn't about to say no to that, he leaned down and kissed Katie, who just sighed and fell asleep.

* * *

"you have to be fucking with me, who the hell came up with that" Lane was pissed off.

The whole second battalion had just taken a standard physical fitness test the day before and scored a 97 percent. Now some colonel from Washington thought Strayer had rigged the score, and ordered the battalion had to take the test again

Lane was tired, Nix and her was working harder than most. Intelligence briefings a long with special training in collecting Intel, interrogating prisoners and the night maneuvers had Lane reaching her limits. The day the test was rescheduled to take place, was the one day Lane and Nix had of, they have had plans to go to Charlotte and rent a hotel room, sleep and eat room service and if they had time, make some amazing love.

"You know what, I am getting us out of this one, I am going to Sink" Lane said and marched out of door slamming it after her.

"I love that woman and her temper" Nixon mumbled to himself, there was no way she was taking no for an answer from Sink.

Lane marched right into Sinks office; she saluted him and sat down in the chair across from his desk.

"Captain Easterday, what can I do for you" Sink said, it had to be important for the captain to march in here like that.

"Colonel, I need for lieutenant Nixon and me to be excused from the physical fitness test" Lane said

Sink hid a smile, he knew exactly why the captain was here, "You want me to excuse you and lieutenant Nixon, and why would I do such a thing" the colonel said.

"Well, I rather not say" Lane said

"Not good enough captain, I need more than that" Sink said.

"Please uncle Robert, just give me this and I won't ever ask for anything again, consider it my Christmas present" Lane said.

The reason Lane was the one the girls send to Sink, was that Sink was Lane's uncle, a fact kept hidden from the men; she didn't want it to interfere with her relationship to the men.

"Now Lane you can't go pull the uncle card like that, tell me what you and the lieutenant had planned that's so important" Sink said.

"Well it's the day we have the forty eight hour passes, and we had plans, I swear good clean plans" Lane said

"Well ok, But Lane separate hotel rooms in Charlotte" Sink said

Lane blushed when she realized Sink had been on to her all along.

Lane and Nixon had the greatest time in Charlotte and when they returned they learned that not only had second battalion scored 98 percent on the physical fitness test, but a lot of Easy men had been promoted as well.

* * *

The night before Easy was to head out to Sturgis, Kentucky, Lipton finally got the courage to talk to Mia.

It had been almost a month since the incident after the dance and Lipton really hadn't figured out what to say to Mia, he had a feeling that Mia had more than friendly feeling for him, and it was flattering. Lipton had to admit Mia was an attractive girl and her smile could light up a whole room.

Lipton found Mia at the hospital she packing up supplies to take with them the next day.

"Can you sneak away for a while" Lipton asked

Mia jumped, she hadn't heard him walk in, "Sure, let me pack this up and I will be right there" Mia said

Lipton watched Mia pack up the crate she had been working on, when she was done she turned and smiled at him, Lipton couldn't help but smile back at her, that smile was contagious

They walked out of the hospital and headed for the airfield. They crossed the airfield and Lipton found a secluded spot and sat down, he motioned for Mia to sit beside him and starred into the horizon.

"Mia what happened at the dance" Lipton asked he didn't really remember, all he remembered was waking up the next day and Mia refusing to talk to him.

"Nothing really, it was all my fault" Mia said.

"Some how I don't believe that, please tell me" Lipton said.

"Well I walked you home, because you decided to drink with the big boys and something tells me you don't drink a lot. When we got to your barrack, I helped you into bed and you told me I was beautiful and then you called me your wife's name or ex wife or whatever, it stung a little since I felt we had a connection and it was just easier not to talk to you." Mia said.

"Mia I am so sorry, that must have hurt, I should have known better than to drink that much and to have you walk me home, was probably stupid, but please believe me when I say this, I have no interest in my ex wife what so ever" Lipton said

"Its ok, I was just being silly" Mia said, she wished she could get out of this awkward conversation.

"Its not ok, look Mia you are very beautiful, and any man would be lucky to have you" Lipton said.

Mia couldn't sit and listen to him telling her that he thought she was beautiful, he just didn't want her, so she tried to stand up to get away, but Lipton grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"Don't run from me please" he said

"I am, I just can't sit here and listen to you say, you don't want me, when I clearly want you a much as my next breath" Mia said and felt some tears run down her face.

Lipton looked at her; he didn't know what to say.

Did he want Mia to? would it be wise for them to get involved? he knew they would be separated for long periods at a time and would it only add to the stress of combat.

"Mia looks at me" he said

Mia looked at him and he knew he couldn't say no to her, he took her head between his hands and kissed her and then hugged her, Mia smiled and Lipton felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"This doesn't mean you get to sleep in my bed like Hendrick and Easterday sleeps in Nixon's and Winters ok?" Lipton said

Mia just nodded against his chest and smiled, she was happy.

From behind them they suddenly heard someone call someone else, the worst names in the book; Lipton was actually surprised a girl would know some of them words, but when they saw who it was he wasn't surprised

"God damn you Ron, I will stay with my men and I won't go to regiment just because you think it will be safer, you ass" Amy was walking away from a fuming Speirs.

Mia got to her feet and got between Amy and Speirs, just before Amy launched at Speirs for calling her the most stubborn woman he had ever encountered and why he bothered trying to talk to her was beyond him.

Mia was pretty sure Amy would have decked him, if she had gotten the chance, but Mia made sure she didn't, she escorted her away without a word, leaving Speirs and Lipton to themselves.

"What was that about?" Lipton asked Speirs

"She got offered a promotion to captain and a move to Regiment and she turned it down" Speirs said

"Well you got to give the lieutenant that, she knows what she want and nobody tells her different" Lipton said

"That's why she infuriates me so much, I just want her safe and she tells me to stuff it" Speirs said

"A piece of advice, sir, let Hunt decide for herself it's the best way to go about it, learned that the hard way at Toccoa" Lipton said and walked off.

Speirs looked over the camp, they were moving out tomorrow and he didn't know when he would see Amy again, he just hoped she had come down by then.


	7. Chapter 7

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The train ride to Sturgis Kentucky was stop and go. Lane, Katie, Amy and Mia was sitting together, Mia was starring out the window she was smiling, she was still thinking about the conversation she had with Lipton the day before, she was glad they cleared things up.

Katie was looking at Winters, Welsh and Nixon.

Winters was writing a letter, Welsh were sleeping and Nixon was drinking from his flask. Lane was just smiling at him and when Winters noticed her turning and looking at Katie, she gave him a small smile, Winters got up to join her, but was intercepted by, Luz, Guarnere, Toye, and Talbert.

"hey guys, how are you holding up" Katie asked the boys.

"Just peachy, if Captain pretty over there, would tell us where we are going after hooking up with the rest of 101st" Guarnere said.

"Sorry guys, can't tell you, but I can tell you about beautiful Sturgis in the hills of Kentucky, and when you arrive there will be pretty red cross girls waiting for you.

The guys mumbled something about intelligence officers and their lack of trust in even their best friends.

Lane slapped Luz on the leg, told him to move and went over to talk to Nixon.

"Lew baby please…." Lane started

"No, no matter what you want, you aren't getting it" Nixon knew the look on Lanes face and he knew it would cost him.

"But please, please" Lane said

"no end of story" Nixon said

"Hmpf" Lane just said and sat down between Welsh and Nixon.

Katie who was reading couldn't help but smile. Lane had a way of getting what she wanted and Nixon saying no to her was a good thing. Katie had a feeling they were good for each other.

Katie felt someone sitting down next to her; she looked up and saw it was Winters.

"Hey you going my way" she asked him.

"Depends on where you are going" Winters answered.

"Well I am going to a lovely place somewhere in Kentucky, care to join me" Katie said

"I got nothing better to do, so might as well," Winters said.

Winters took her hand and Katie just kept reading her book, Amy was sleeping and she was dreaming. Katie and Mia knew it was only a matter of time before she would wake up, crying or screaming.

Amy had nightmares about her childhood and when Ron was avoiding her they got worse, after their fight last night, Amy had been really upset especially because she knew it was her own fault.

Mia saw Amy starting to toss around and she looked at the boys "Could you go find Lipton and Speirs right now please" Talbert noticed Amy was crying in her sleep.

"Yep, let's go" Talbert and the rest of them got up and walked through the train, they had a hard time keeping their balance and it took them a while before they located the sergeant, luck had it he was with Speirs.

"Lieutenant, Lip, Mia needs you, something is wrong with Lieutenant Hunt" Talbert said.

Lipton and Speirs looked at the men "What do you mean something wrong is wrong with the lieutenant" Speirs barked, the men took a step back, "we don't know" Luz said and the men got the hell out of Speirs sight.

Lipton looked at Speirs "Well, we better go find out sir" Lipton said.

The two men walked through the train, until they finally found what they were looking for.

Mia looked up "Good, you are here, you lieutenant get to sit here and hold your girl, so she won't wake up screaming and disturb the entire battalion and you sergeant get to sit here and tell me what rumors are floating around about where we are going, since captain pretty and lieutenant Romeo are silent as the grave" Mia said and pulled Lip down next to her.

Speirs pulled a sleeping Amy up on his lap as soon as she felt his arms around her she relaxed, he noticed her eyes starting to flutter, Amy woke up and looked him right in the eyes "Oh good you are really here" She said and put her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah and you're kind of heavy, get of me" Speirs said and pushed Amy of him.

He gave her a kiss and took her head between his hands "You going to be ok" he asked

"Fine" Amy said and smiled

"Good I am going back to my men, see you later" He said and walked off.

Amy smiled and sat down next to Lipton who was giving her a strange look "You ok" he asked

"Just peachy, you always do this, act so nice and then walk away," she said.

"You know, you will always have Luz and Talbert if everything else fails" Lipton said and nudged Amy with his elbow.

…

When the train arrived in Kentucky the troops was met by red cross girls who handed out coffee and doughnuts, they marched out into the country side, there was some tents set up and latrine was dugged, and when Lane got a sight of the camp she turned to Katie and said "We are eating SOS aren't we"

Katie just nodded and stalked off to find the tent there was set up to pose as a combat hospital. Mia was there, and so were the medics from the rest of the regiment. Katie started to set up and give orders when Winters came and told her that general Taylor wanted to see her and Mia

Katie gave herself the once over, she was wearing OD and looked like she spend the past many hours on a train, she braided her hair and Mia and her followed Winters to the HQ.

When she walked in, she saw General Taylor, Colonel Sink, Major Strayer and the commander of the 326th medical company was there, Katie's heart stopped, she knew it; they were going to join the 326th.

"Captain Hendrick, lieutenant MacKall, you both know Major Barfield," General Taylor said

"Sir" both of the girls said.

"you both been a great asset to the 506th, however its time the two of you get your combat medicine training, so you will be joining the rest of the 326th at fort Bragg, so say goodbye to the fellows, you won't see them for a while" the general said

"Sir" Mia and Katie saluted him and followed Major Barfield out of the tent.

"Well I guess you girls have some goodbyes to say, I will see you in half an hour" Major Barfield said and walked off.

"Well, I am glad we got to take that long train ride here, just to be shipped of" Mia said.

The girls walked to the hospital tent to gather their belongings, after saying goodbye to the medics they walked off to find Easy company.

They found them at the assembly area, Lipton noticed Mia walking toward him with her holding bag packed and tears in her eyes, he walked over to her "Where are you going? why are your bag packed? He asked her slightly panicking

"We are leaving with the 326th, we are heading to Bragg" Mia said and looked down on her jump boots.

Lipton pulled her in for a hug and Mia sobbed, unable to hold it back, she had just found him 16 hours ago and now she had to leave.

Katie walked over to Winters who was talking to Lane and Nixon, she tapped him on his shoulder, he turned around and smiled, which faded when he noticed the look on her face "So Mia and I are leaving with the 326th, so I just came to say goodbye" Katie said

Winters searched Katie's face for some sort of emotions and found none; he could tell she was holding herself together to be strong for both of them, and especially Amy who was heading their way.

Winters hugged her and gave her a kiss on the head, Amy walked up to them "hey what is going on here?" She asked

Katie turned around and hugged Amy "I am heading out with the 326th, but I will see all of you at Bragg or were ever we are going, ok" Katie smiled at Amy who looked like she lost her best friend, which she had, how was she going to make it without Katie here?, Katie had always been there, always.

Amy choked back her tears and smiled "right see you somewhere else" She said.

Katie pulled Mia out of Lipton's arms, "Come on we got one more lieutenant to find" Katie said.

Katie hurried around the camp and found who she was looking for "lieutenant a word please" Katie said when she saw Speirs

"I am leaving, and I am leaving Amy in good health and in good spirits, if I find her in any other condition, I will make up some sort of very unpleasant surgical procedure you will need, got that," Katie said

Speirs just nodded, people might be scared of him, but they should be scared of the Doc, she was mean, it's always the quiet once.

Katie and Mia met up with the Major Barfield and drove off.

The 506th officially joined the 101st in June and the extended maneuvers began, it was blue army against the red and it was hot as hell in the C47 and one particular day it was so hot that Bull, who was in Amy's plane started to vomit in his helmet, that process moved right up the line, Amy screamed to the pilot to turn on the green light and as soon as she saw the green light she was out of the door.

When she landed, Bull got his ass handed to him by a very angry Amy. Nixon who walked by, stepped in dismissed Bull, who didn't stick around to find out what the hell that was all about, he just scurried of in a hurry.

"What the hell is wrong with you" Nixon asked Amy

"Nothing, just doing my job, got a problem with that," Amy asked

"Lieutenant Hunt" Amy and Nixon heard someone say; they turned around and saw Sobel starring at them.

"Sir" Nixon and Amy said and saluted him.

"Dismissed lieutenant Nixon" Sobel said and waited until Nixon had disappeared around the corner.

"Lieutenant Hunt, glad you are finally disciplining your Platoon, third will be in the lead on the night maneuver tonight" Sobel said and walked off.

Amy sighed; well there went her rest, now she had to prepare her entire platoon.

The extended night march was hell on earth; they were wading through streams, climbing the far bank, stumbling over roots, rocks and stumps.

Amy had Popeye and Talbert in the lead.

The extended night march turned into a full week maneuver and by the end of June, the entire battalion was tired, filthy and itchy all over.

Being a part of second and third platoon was no picnic at this time, Amy was upset because she felt everyone left her. Winters missed Katie and had a tendency to bottle it up making him even quieter, and Lipton was, well like Winters even more introverted and it scared the heck out of the men.

They moved out of the hell at Sturgis and to Beckinridge. The new camp had hot showers and good grub, but no place to sleep for the men, instead they had to sleep in tents again, it didn't take long for the all of them to get ten-day furloughs.

Winters went home to spend time with his parents and Lipton went home and helped out at the boarding house, both of them missed the girls and hoped they would see them again.

Amy and Speirs decided to spend the time together, they rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains and enjoyed their time together, they knew that it would probably be the last time they would be alone.

The Cabin was isolated and it had a big fireplace, it had been a long drive from the camp. Amy had charmed Sink so they had gotten permission to borrow a jeep, Amy had slept most of the way. Ron was worried, Amy seemed to be tired all the time, and Ron had noticed Sobel was riding Amy harder than the rest of the guys in the company.

He would make Amy do double the work, the rest of the men did, and she had twice the amount of night guard duty. Ron tried to be Dogs officer when Amy had night guard, to support her.

Ron stopped the jeep and climbed out he walked around it and picked up a sleeping Amy and carried her inside. Amy was whimpering in her sleep, it sounded like she was begging someone to stop, he laid her down on the couch, he watched her sleep for a minute before he went outside to grab their bags. Amy looked so small and fragile, if he met her out on the street, there was no way he would believe she could be a paratrooper, he was glad they had made up after the fight they had before they left MacKall.

When he came back inside Amy was awake, she was looking out of the kitchen window. She smiled to herself when she heard Ron come inside, she turned around and walked over to him, she was happy, some people thought Ron was a scary guy, but Amy knew better, he cared about the people closes to him and he only kept up the bad ass reputation to keep his men in line. The men in his platoon were a rowdy bunch, much worse than the guys in Amy's platoon.

No one could really understand how quit Amy and badass Ron Speirs had found each other and if Amy had to be honest she didn't really know either.

It was after the march they had become close and things had just slowly progressed after that.

Amy had been called into Sinks office and had been warned about Ron, she had promised Sink she could handle it.

Ron dropped their bags on the floor and pulled Amy to him, he kissed her and Amy opened her mouth to allow him to slide his tongue in her mouth,. Ron picked her up and found the only bedroom in the house and he laid her gently down on the bed, they were both still wearing their uniforms and they helped each other out of them.

An hour later they were in bed Amy had her head on Ron's chest and he was gently stroking her upper arm, Amy was thinking about what she would do when they got into combat, she would miss him, but it would do her good to get her head in the game.

Amy and Ron spend the week in relative peace and quiet together, reading, making love and fishing.

Lane and Lew was not that lucky, they had gone home to New Jersey to visit their families.

After Lane had been home for three days, Lane's mom decided it was time for a dinner party, and of course the Nixon's was invited. Lane was happy she got to see Nix, which she hadn't seen him since she got back home, her mother had her host teas with the all women in town and do charity work and give speeches at women's lunches.

Lane ignored her moms fuss and even put on a dress for the occasion, she knew Nixon would give her hell for it and he was probably in uniform.

Lane was standing in the hall and greeted the guest as they arrived, she was anxious to see Lew.

When the Nixon's arrived, Lane brought out the million-dollar smile. Nixon and Lane hadn't really discussed if they should make their relationship public or not.

Lew saw Lane as soon as he walked in the door, she was gorgeous, she was wearing a deep red dress and diamond earrings. Lew just hoped Sink wasn't there so he didn't have to talk war all night.

He really wanted to get Lane alone, he missed sleeping next to her, and holds her close. Nix smiled and walked over to say hallo to the host couple, he shook Lanes dads hand and kissed Lanes mom on the cheek and he just stared at Lane.

"You look absolutely breathtaking "He said and kissed her cheek, he stepped away and couldn't help but salute her.

Lane just rolled her eyes and took his arm "Why don't we go find a more secluded place" She said.

Lew smiled, he grabbed them both a drink, they walked outside, it was a bit cold and Lew put his jacket around Lanes shoulder.

He took her hand and looked down at their hands "Is your uncle here" Lew asked

Lane smiled "No he is in D.C, so don't worry" Lane said and kissed Nixon.

They were called to the table, Lane and Lew were seated next to each other, there was a lot of holding hands and hands on thighs going on through dinner.

Lane pulled Lew into the study and they got a little carried away, the door opened and Nixon's dad and Lanes dad stepped in, the two of them jumped apart.

It was too late, there was no hiding what was going on.

"So how long has this been going on" Lane's dad asked and put his glass of scotch down on his desk.

"dad its not…" Lane started

"Save it young lady, I knew there was something different about you when you came home, you was too happy" Lanes dad said.

"Sir, I really…." Nixon started, but a look from his father stopped him.

"You two have some explaining to do, and what about your divorce Lewis" Nixon's dad asked

Lane started to explain how the two of them had met up at OCS, and how they slowly became friends again, and after the divorce how they decided to give a relationship a try and how it had worked out, and that they worked together at S2.

"did your uncle know about this" Lane's father asked

Lane knew she had to keep uncle Robert out of this "No, nobody except some of the other officers" Lane said and crossed her fingers behind her back.

"I am not happy about this Stan" Lane's father said to Nixon's father.

"I understand Fred, but what are we going to do" Nixon's father said.

Lane and Lew slipped out of the study and waited in the hall for them to the get called back in the study.

"The two of you are going to keep this from your mothers, and if you both get through this war alright, we will discuss it again, and see what happens" Lanes father said

Lane fought the urge to roll her eyes, they were going to be across an ocean, so they could pretty much do as they pleased, so she just smiled and agreed.

Nixon gave her hand a squeeze and headed home, with his parents.

For the rest of the leave Lane and Nixon was kept pretty much a part by their fathers, so when the leave ended Lane was happy to get back to Camp.

Fort Bragg was clearly a staging area for the regiments shipping out. Amy was hoping that Katie was there, but by the time the 101st arrived the 326th had already shipped out and nobody would tell them where they were, which made everybody more miserable, because of the crappy officers.

Amy dragged herself back to her barrack after another grueling day with Sobel; he had kept her at the firing range long after everybody else was dismissed.

She fell head first down on her bed and slept; Lane tried to sneak in and woke up Amy.

"Sorry didn't mean to wake you, did you even shower yet" Lane asked her

Amy wished she had showered, but she couldn't move, she wished she was back in the cabin with Ron on the couch half asleep while listening to his heart beat.

Lane looked at Amy, she had been so happy and her cheeks had been rosy, when she came back from leave.

"Amy when is the last time you saw Ron?" Lane asked

"Not since we got back" Amy said and got ready to take a shower, the girls had their own shower room build in at the barrack.

While Amy was in the shower Lane set out to find Ron, and if necessary drag him back to the barrack, so Amy had a chance to sleep a whole night without nightmares.

She found him yelling at a sergeant from his platoon, who had refused to follow an order, the sergeant ended up being punished after all the rules in military conduct.

"just be glad Captain Easterday is here, she is the only one who keeps me from shooting you," Speirs said.

"Captain what I can do for you?" Speirs asked

"I need you to sleep in my barrack tonight, I will find another place to crash tonight. Amy has been having nightmares again and she needs the sleep," Lane said.

Speirs just turned on his heel and walked towards the girls barrack, he opened the door and saw Amy sleeping and crying at the same time, he slipped down beside Amy and put his arms around her. Amy sighed and slept peacefully all night.

The last Friday they were at Fort Bragg, Amy and Lane got all new gear, new weapons and new side arms, Amy and Lane had both decided on a Thompson and was eager to get to fire it.

The decided to go to town and help the men Prime the pump, which meant, they were going to a local bar called the town pump.

There they joined Luz, Guarnere, Toye and Liebgott. Amy was looking around for Talbert and noticed he was heading out the door with a local girl, she smiled and shook her head.

"So what can we get you pretty ladies to drink" Luz asked Lane and Amy.

"how about a couple of beers" Lane said and suddenly wished Lew was there, she had a feeling there would be problems, when the gilder boys showed up.

The paratroopers and gliders did not mix well, and it almost always ended up with a fight when they did mix and there was alcohol in the equation.

They found a table and sat down, Amy looked around when she saw the guys from 2nd glider battalion, she knew there was going to be trouble and she hoped Lane could keep Guarnere and Toye on a tight leach.

Amy and Lane was in their uniforms and was talking with the guys, Luz was trying to get Lane to tell him if they were heading for the pacific or Europe, Lane refused to spill and Luz kept buying her drinks and Lane kept refusing to tell him anything.

Lane noticed a couple of the glider boys walking towards their table, she knew it meant trouble when one of them kept making passes at Amy and she kept shooting him down.

Guarnere and Toye could tell Amy had enough and considering the fact Speirs would rip them a new one if anything happened to Amy, well, it was time to step in.

"Hey boys back of, leave the nice lieutenant alone," Guarnere said

A glider boy turned around and told wild Bill to back off, Guarnere took a swing at the guy and soon they were all fighting, the Easy guys had the gliders and were winning the fight

One of the glider boys made a remark "At least they didn't have women doing their fighting" which pissed of Amy and Lane, who both jumped in the fight.

Luz noticed and told Moore to go to the bar down the street where the officers usually frequented and find Speirs and Nixon and Welsh if he was there.

Moore came running into the bar and flagged down the officers and explained what was going on.

Welsh ran down the street unable to resist a good fight and Speirs and Nixon dove in and got their girl friends out before they hurt themselves.

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	8. Chapter 8

"Bar fighting, really girls" It was needless to say Colonel Sink was disappointed in his officers.

Welsh had a black eye, Amy had one bruised nose and Lane had a couple of brushed knuckles and two broken fingers.

"If we wasn't about to move out, you would have been lined up against the wall and shot," Sink said

"Sir, yes, sir" The officers said.

"Know get the hell out of here," Sink said

The officers saluted him

"Now get" Sink said.

The group walked out of the HQ, Amy sighed "Well that went better than expected, know all I have to do is avoid Sobel, Winters, and Speirs, then I am good" Amy said and looked around nervously.

"good luck with that" Lane said and walked back in to the HQ. Nixon winked at Amy and followed Lane in to the HQ.

Back in their office, Nixon turned and faced Lane; he still couldn't believe she had chosen him of all the men in the army.

"She is in big trouble isn't she" Nix asked Lane

"Yes she is" Lane said

She turned around and walked over to Nixon "I on the other hand have a very handsome and understanding boyfriend who is never going to mention this ever again" Lane said and kissed Nixon

"And I have a girl, who is usually more trouble than she is worth" Nix said and kissed Lane back.

"Get a room, there are some people here who are alone and miserable" Winters walked into the S2 office.

"Dick, what can we do you for?" Lane asked stepping away from Nixon.

"I was wondering if you could find out where the 326th is" Winters said

Lane looked at Winters, he looked like he hadn't slept for a while, he was more introverted than usual, and he scared the hell out of her, "Well, they are where we are heading, that's all I can tell you, sorry Dick,"  
Lane said

Winters looked over at Nix, he just shrugged he couldn't tell him anything either "Sorry buddy, can't tell you anything either" Nixon said

Winters nodded and walked out, when he got outside, he put his garrison hat on and walked towards the mess, he missed Katie; he missed her company and their late night talks and feeling her next to him when he was sleeping. He missed the look on her face when she walked towards him after a long day at the hospital, and her incredible smile, a smile that stopped the whole world and sucked the breath out of him,

He heard someone calling his name he saw sergeant Lipton walking towards him.

"Sergeant" Winters said

"Lieutenant" Lipton said and saluted Winters

"I was just wondering sir, if you found out anything about captain Hendrick and lieutenant MacKall sir," Lipton asked

"No, Sorry Sergeant" Winters said

Lipton looked like he was about to he was about to say something, but changed his mind "Thank you for trying Lieutenant" Lipton said.

Lipton was going crazy, he hadn't seen Mia for what seemed like forever, he missed her, her wits, her spark, her good mood and the way she always smiled. She was friendly to everyone and her sense of humor was a perfect match to his.

He watched Winters walk away, and wondered if he was doing better than he was.

Lipton walked into Easy company's mess; it was empty except for lieutenant Hunt.

She was clearly hiding from someone; she looked up at Lipton, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Sergeant Lipton, sit down" Amy said.

"Lieutenant Hunt? are you ok?" Lipton asked

Amy blew on her coffee, she was hiding from everyone, including herself, she knew she fucked up. Ron was mad at her, Sobel was furious and she knew Welsh and her was going to have night guard duty from now one and until the war was over.

In addition, Amy just couldn't face Winters and the disappointed look she knew he would have on his face, when she next saw him.

"yeah just peachy, Lip I am in so much trouble and it's my own ding dang fault," Amy said.

"Now Hunt, I am sure it's not that bad," Lipton said

"I think it is, I beat the daylight out of a glider boy, Ron practically had to pry me of him, oh and he hasn't talked to me since, Sink is disappointed in me, Winters hasn't talked to me, and Sobel is just being a bastard" Amy said and sighed.

"Well I can't do anything about Sobel; I know Winters is miserable without Katie, so he just needs someone to talk to. And when it comes to Speirs, well he is just worried, he is worried you one day is going to wake up and realize you can do a hell of a lot better than him, which you can Tab cough Luz. I am just kidding, lieutenant all you have to do is find them and set things straight," Lipton said.

Amy sighed, she was scared of the two men for different reasons, Winters was her best friend, for a lack of a better word boyfriend or more like soul mate, and Speirs was hers.

Amy got up, walked around the table, and kissed him on the cheek, when she looked up and looked into the cold and angry eyes of Ron Speirs.

"Shit, here we go" Amy mumbled.

Speirs turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him, "Well, go get him Lieutenant," Lipton said

"Might as well get it over with" Amy said and walked out of the mess to find Speirs.

She found him leaning up against the flagpole, like the first time she talked to him at Toccoa, Amy walked up to him, she soaked him up, he was incredible handsome, he had that tall, dark and brooding over him, she knew he attracted a lot of attention when he was and about town. The sun was setting, and the sun last ray was hitting his dark hair and Amy felt the breath was sucked out of her; she did not intend to ever let him go; now all she had to do was to fix their relationship.

"Ron" Said and put her hand on his arm

Speirs just looked at her with an icy stare "Please don't pull away from me" Amy said

"What do you expect, first you pick some random bar fight, then you avoid me, and now I know why, you are hitting on your friends boyfriend, what the hell is the matter with you" Speirs spat out.

"Wait what? You think I picked a fight; I was just defending my honor, a long with captain Easterdays. I don't know what you think you just saw in there, but I know Lipton loves Mia and I know I love you, but you are just being an idiot Ronald Speirs, you know what you are so not worth it, stay the hell away from me. This, whatever this was, it's over" Amy said and stomped of

Speirs flicked his cigarette and looked after Amy, he knew it was going to be along war, if Amy was mad at him, he might as well follow her and set thing straight.

Speirs found Amy crying in an empty tent, when she saw him, she quickly dried her eyes and stood up; she just looked at Speirs with empty eyes scared of what would happen next.

"Amy" Ron said and pulled her to him, "why do you run every time things get rough, you always run from me, it scares the hell out of me" He said and kissed her on top of her head.

"I am sorry, it's just what I do, with my history it has always been the safest bet, the only thing I could do was run from everything, especially my feelings and my father" Amy said

"Well like I told you, don't run from me, get mad, scream at me, just don't run anymore, ok" Ron said and looked Amy in the eyes searching for her answer in them.

Amy nodded against his chest "I promise and sorry for being such a mess, with all my mood swings and problems, who would think I was a tough ass paratrooper," Amy said

"Me, look Amy we all have issues, you have some form of abandonment issue, I have a temper, Nixon drinks, Lane hates all men except Nixon, Katie thinks she has to be the best at everything and Mia is just too damn happy all the time, Dick I haven't figured out yet, so don't sweat it" Speirs said

"Just remember I get carried away by look, by the light in your eyes, before I even realize the ride I am on, baby I am long gone, I get carried away, nothing matter but being with you ok" Ron said.

That was a very uncharacteristic thing for Speirs to say, but Amy just took it all in and enjoyed being in his arms.

* * *

Mid-august they were all once again loaded into trains, and once again, the only two eEasy company members who knew where they were going were Lane and Nixon.

"Come on captain, you can tell me, I won't tell anyone" Bill was trying to get Lane to tell him where they were heading, so he could win a bet with Liebgott.

Amy was sleeping, it seemed like anytime she got into some kind of moving equipment, she fell asleep, at least she didn't have nightmares anymore, she had been sleeping like a baby since her resent talk with Speirs. Lane was happy, she knew they would be hooking up with the 326th soon and she would hate see Katie kill Speirs.

"Leave the pretty Captain alone" Welsh said

He was sitting beside Nixon, and the two of them was sharing Nixon' flask, which meant they would be plastered before they reached their destination, Lane sighed once again she would be the one to organize the S2 section, she was getting a little annoyed with Nix drinking.

Winters was writing a letter, no doubt to Katie, he usually handed them to Lane who send them to Katie, since she knew where she was.

Lane looked at Welsh "aww, thanks lieutenant handsome" Lane cooed to Welsh.

Nixon looked at Welsh "hey get your own girl" He said

"I got a girl, but she is not here so I have to borrow yours," Welsh said with a smirk.

Lane shook her head and left her seat, she wandered down to the part of the train where the enlisted men were, she wanted to find some sane company, seemed like all the officers was out of their minds these days.

She found Easy company, Bill was back there making bets about where they were going, Liebgott was taking his bet and they were both wrong, if they just had bothered to look out of the window, they would know where they were heading.

Luz looked up "hey Captain going my way" he said

"Depends on where you are going" Lane said

"I don't know, why you don't tell me," Luz said

"Cant do that, but I can tell you, that there once again will be pretty red cross girls there, for you lot to flirt with" Lane said and looked around the train.

She wondered how many of the cocky young men would make it through the war, how many would be killed or wounded.

Would the men she was close to make it? and would she make it home? she was an Intelligence officer, but that didn't mean she wasn't in danger, she would be the one walking the line at two in the morning, and swimming rivers to collect Intel.

Would she return from the war? Would Lew? she wasn't sure and it scared the hell out of her, all she could do was live in the moment, she never had any regrets.

"She knew, she would carry his love with her through the invasion, it would be her strength for holding on every minute she had to be gone, she would have everything she would need, carrying his love with her in her heart, a heart she had held on to for so many, many years.

Lane had once decided never to fall in love, her dad been a notorious cheater and her mom had been putting on a brave fac. Lane knew her mom knew about the affairs and a long time ago Lane had decided that love was not for her, and that most men in her circle was not to be trusted, and lord behold here was Lewis Nixon sweeping her of her feet.

Well you only live once right? and who knew how long her life would be.

"hey Captain, you in on a poker game" Talbert asked her

"Cant, I have been told that I cant gamble with you guys anymore, Sinks order after I cleaned you out last week, and somebody complained to Winters" Lane said

There was a low mumbling about who the culprit could be, but no one knew.

"But I will stay and bull shit with you guys, if you will let me in on the latest gossip around the barracks" Lane said.

"well rumor has it Lipton is in love with Mia, but she isn't answering any of his letters, so he is acting like a complete bear" Liebgott said he wasn't afraid Lipton wasn't his platoon sergeant.

Amy had said that Lip had changed since Mia and Katie had left, it was strange about the letters, Lane had send the letters herself, who was keeping Mia's letters, Lane could only think of one person, Sobel, he had to have a hand in this.

"So are you telling me, that he hasn't heard anything from Mia, what about Winters has he heard from Katie" Lane asked

"Rumor says no" Tab said

"Hm, Maybe I should have a little talk with Evans" Lane said

"What else give me something" Lane said

"Well rumor says Speirs is going to propose to lieutenant Hunt, once we get to where we are going" Luz said

"What, no way" Tab said

"True, heard from a sergeant over in D. company" Luz said

"That rumor I know is not true, Someone is getting proposed to, and the old Sparky did help pick out the ring" Lane said

"Well who is getting hitched then?" Luz asked

"McMillan, he proposing to that field nurse they have tacking along with them, as soon as we hook up with the 326th" Lane said.

"Good, made me feel a lot better" Talbert said and let out a breath.

"Well what about you Nixon?" Luz asked Lane

"We are just taking one day at the time, no hurry who knows next year at this time I could be six feet under" Lane said.

"cynical much Captain" Luz said

"Realistic, dear Luz" Lane said.

Lane noticed Evans walking towards her, she stood up and grabbed him by his collar, "Where are they" She asked him and pushed him up against the wall

"Where are what?" The scared sergeant said, he was Sobel's right hand and he was hated by most of the men.

"The fucking Letters from the 326th, don't even try to deny it" Lane spat out

"I don't..." That as far as Evans got, before Lane slammed him up against the wall once again

"Once again, where are the letters Evans?" Lane said through her teeth

"Sobel got them in his footlocker" Evans said

"Thank you, oh and this stays between us, got it?" Lane said

Lane walked back to the men "I need a couple of volunteers who wants to mess with Sobe,l and I will take all the blame" Lane said

Guarnere, Toye and Luz were on their feet in no time.

"Rumor has it Sobel is keeping Lips and Winters letters in his footlocker, so let's go find the cargo wagon" Lane said

The group walked thru the train, and when they walked past D, company Speirs looked up, he had questioning look in his eyes "She is ok, we are just on a mission" Lane said and smiled.

They found the cargo wagon, and found Sobel's footlocker, Lane who was the only one who carried live ammunition considered for a brief moment shooting the lock of the thing.

Instead Bill picked the, lock and inside they found what they came for.

They gathered the letters, and got the hell out of there.

Lane held all the letters in her hand, she was beyond pissed off, what kind of person did this, she ought to have Sobel court martial for this.

Thinking about the amount of paper work a court martial would land her, she dropped the idea; she knew she would get the bastard back soon enough.

Back with Easy Lane dropped Mia's bundled letters up in Lipton's lap and smiled, "Don't ask, just read them" Lane said.

Lipton opened the first Letter from Mia.

_Dear Lip_

_I can't believe we were separated only hours after finally finding each other._

_The jeep ride to, well I can't tell you where I am, security reason, was long and boring._

_I was thinking about you the whole way here._

_When we arrived we were quartered in a barrack with a bunch of new nurses, the only exception is D companies field nurse, Sophie she is as miserable as Katie and I, she is apparently involved the XO of D. company._

_The barrack here are nice, hot water for showers and good chow, I still haven't figured out the idea behind sending us here._

_Katie has more skills in her pinky, than any of the regimental surgeons, they look like freaking idiots compared to Katie, and Sophie and I are more experienced than the head nurse, so the three of us tries to be polite and nod when needed._

_I miss you, especially at night, I can hear the young nurses talk about their boyfriends, I miss our talks and the feeling of your arms wrapped around me and the scent of you, I cant wait till you finally get here, that's what gets me through this._

_Love_

_Mia_

There was a whole stack of letters and Lip couldn't wait to read them, but he would wait until he was somewhere quieter.

Lane had dropped of Katie's letters and Winters was now reading the first one.

_Dear Dick_

_So here I am, surrounded by incompetent morons, I don't know where they recruited these morons, just be glad second battalion has Mia, Sophie and I._

_I watched one of the doctors kill a man today, thank god he was only practicing on a dummy, I had to show a major how to do his job._

_It's like I am in a special kind of hell designed just for me._

_Enough complaining, I do miss and I wish you were here with me, I miss sleeping next to you and listening to your heart beat in your chest knowing that it beats in sync with mine._

_See you soon._

_Love you_

_Katie._

_Ps: tell McMillan he better come bearing an engagement ring for Sophie, she cries at night, when she thinks everyone is a sleep, she really, really miss him._

She loves him, that's all that went through Winters head after reading Katie's letter, she really did love him, a stone fell from his heart, he loved her too, he just hadn't told her, he was saving it for a special occasion.

The train slowed down and finally came to a stop, the men was herded out and the climbed into the waiting trucks.

They were taken to camp shanks 30 miles up the Hudson river from New York city.

Easy company jumped of the truck and was called to attention, Sobel was conducting an inspection, when two girls came running a cross the parade ground, coming to a screeching hold behind him.

He could hear some laughing behind him and the men's attention wasn't on him, he felt like he had no choice, but to dismiss the men, when he saw Captain Easterday looking at him with her ice cold eyes. Evans had told him about their run in on the train, and Sobel knew that the letters, which used to be in his footlocker, was now in possession of their right full owners.

He wanted to avoid any trouble with Lane. After the incident where he had caught her fooling around with Nixon, he had complained to Sink about her behavior, only to find that Captain Easterday was Sinks niece, and if he knew what was good for him, he would stay on her good side, Sink adored his niece and protected her against any wrong.

"Dismissed" Sobel said.

The platoon leaders dismissed their platoons, Amy had a strong urge to keep third platoon in formation a little longer, just to mess Lipton, but she let them go find their quarters.

Hearing a loud cry she looked over at Mia and Lipton, they were currently trying to fit into one set of clothes.

Winters was standing facing Katie, smiling and holding both her hands.

Lane saw the two of them walk off towards the officer's quarter, knowing Katie she was going to make the lieutenant snuggle with her; she had been in scrubs looking very tired, but really happy.

Lane felt a hand on her shoulder, she put hers on top of it and smiled, Nixon put his arms around her waist "Are you happy now" he said

"I am very happy, I got a good feeling about this" She said, when she saw McMillan drop to one knee in front of his field nurse, of course Sophie accepted and she started to cry.

* * *

A few shots later and with arms that felt paralyzed the men boarded a troop transport ship, to cross the ocean.

The ocean liner was designed to carry a thousand passengers, but was currently carrying 5000 soldiers.

The officers were quartered in cabins above deck and the men were in bunks below deck.

It was crammed and any attempt to do PT had to be stopped, Lane, Mia, Amy, Katie and Sophie, shared a cabin. Sophie was a welcome addition to their little group, she was a smart, and sassy girl from Ohio, with green eyes and ginger hair, her parents had immigrated to the US from Ireland when Sophie was ten years old, and she still had a bit of an accent, which was what drove McMillan absolutely up the wall.

The girls weren't all ways where they should be at night.

Amy was with her men most of the time, the close quarters was getting to them, they were getting tired of playing poker and craps and there were a sudden amount of tension rising.

One of the men was making a crack about, that right now some lucky bastard was heading to the pacific, with flamingoes and naked native women.

Domingus said that Flamingoes are mean, they bite and someone said "so does the naked native ladies"

One day Liebgott and Bill got in a fight over Sobel and Amy tried to separate them, and got hit by Bills elbow, right in her temple, everything went black, right before she hit the deck a pair of strong arm caught her and carried her back to her cabin.

When she came thru she looked into a pair of green eyes and Sophie smiled at her and said "Welcome back, someone has been pacing the hall waiting to see you"

Sophie opened the door and a very angry Speirs walked in the door.

"You Ok?" he asked

"I am fine, what did you do Bill, and how did you know about the fight, I assume you were the one who caught me" Amy said

"Well I threatened to rearrange Bills face, I was actually below deck when the fight broke out, and that's how I made over in time to catch you" Ron said.

After Speirs little pep talk there were no more fight for the duration of the trip, the troop ship arrived in England and the troops was shipped off to Aldbourne.


	9. Chapter 9

**Aldbourne 1943**

Easy Company arrived in Aldbourne in the middle of the night, they soon realized they were in a war zone and the total black out impressed them.

The men was Quartered in Nissan huts, and the officers in a very crammed manor house. Amy, Lane, Katie, Mia and Sophie were all sharing a room with bunk beds and they loved it, it was like being back at Toccoa.

Lane threw her bag on a bunk, and sat down "God, it's so good to have a descent bed again" she said.

"Yeah enjoy, there are three people in this room, who won't be getting any sleep the next few weeks" Katie said

Katie, Mia and Sophie was suppose to report to the camp hospital the next morning, there were wounded who need treatment.

Amy looked at Lane "Don't look at me, I have go the same lectures about how to fit in, as you do" Amy said

The army had put together a program for the soldiers so they could familiarize them self with the English way of life.

The next week Lane and Amy spend being lectured on the British way of life, the men however quickly got the message, do your hell rising in Swindon, Brighton and London.

* * *

The first weekend in England everybody got a weekend pass, and there was a dance in Swindon.

Lane, Amy, Mia and Sophie were all going; Katie had a shift at the hospital.

It didn't bother her, she rather spends the evening with the wounded, and she hoped Winters would stop by.

Lane decided it was a civilian clothing event, and the girls all wore dresses, high heels and make up.

"I can't remember the last time I wore a dress," Sophie said

Sophie had been a nurse at Pearl Harbor and then later in Africa, she had been shipped from one place to the next the past three years, she didn't complain, her parents was very proud of her, and encouraged her to do what she felt she needed to do.

Lane was very jealous of Sophie's relationship with her parents, but she absolutely adored Sophie, McMillan was a lucky man.

They walked over to the truck that was going to take them to Swindon.

Amy was caught by a strong pair of arms, before she could get on a truck with the Easy men.

Speirs took her hand and led her to a jeep in front of the convoy. Amy noticed McMillan was guiding Sophie the same way, and the four of them got in the jeep and waited for the signal to head out.

Lipton helped Mia in the back of a truck "Sorry I don't have a jeep for you" He said

Mia looked at him and took his hand in his "Its ok as long as you are here nothing else matters" Mia said, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Hey Captain Easterday, where is your dream beau?" Luz asked Lane

"Already there, and probably drunk as a skunk, along with Welsh" Lane said.

The Column moved towards Swindon. the men were already in a good mood, Lane was laughing along with the men, and she was sharing a bottle of whiskey with Guarnere, Toye and Malarkey.

When they arrived at the dance Lane was tipsy; the soldiers stumbled into the dance hall. Nixon and Welsh was already there, sitting at the bar.

Lane stumbled over to Nixon, who had actually been holding back, so when he saw Lane he knew it had been a wise choice, "Hey babe, how about a dance handsome?" Lane said.

"sure, why not, drunk much Easterday" Nixon said

"Yes and you know what? I like it" Lane said

"I bet you do" Nixon said and led her out on the floor.

Amy was sitting at a table with Sophie, Speirs and McMillan, and a couple of the other officers, they were talking about their men and the company.

Amy excused herself, Speirs let her out, thinking she would be right back.

Amy found Luz, Talbert, Mia, Lipton, Guarnere, Toye, Liebgott, sitting at a table laughing and drinking, and Amy decided this was the place to be.

"hey lieutenant sits down" Luz said

"Don't mind if I do," She said, and before she had a chance to blink, a drink was placed before her.

"So how come you are not sitting with Sparky?" Guarnere asked

"Well Bill, the Dog guys have nothing on my Easy guys, cheers" Amy said.

Amy was talking with the Luz and Talbert who had joined them when he noticed Amy at the table.

Amy was getting louder and louder as the night progressed, there was no one to stop her drinking.

Mia and Lipton were to wrapped up in each other, and spend half the night on the dance floor

Lane, Nix and Welsh was drunk, and Speirs was to wrapped up in his conversation and drinking with the officers to, even notice how long Amy was gone,

Sophie who had stayed sober, she had to drive the jeep back, noticed where the night was heading.

Amy was on the dance floor, dancing a little too close to Bull. Sophie knew Amy was safe with Bull; he was like a big teddy bear and would not take advantage of a drunken Amy.

The Easy and Dog officers needed to leave; Sophie stood up and told her drunken fiancé to get on his feet.

"Mac get up, honey we are leaving" Sophie said

McMillan was too drunk to object, just looked at Speirs "Hey Sparky, we are heading out" he said

Speirs, who was very inebriated at this point, suddenly remembered he had Amy with him at one point, his eyes was glassy, he looked around to see if he could spot her.

His heart clenched a little when he saw her sitting on Talbert's lap.

He walked over and held his hand out to her; Amy, who was too drunk to object, just took it and followed him out while she stumbled after Speirs.

He got her in the back of the jeep and got in next to her, Amy leaned up against him and gave him a drunken smile and the tirade of angry words he had been holding back disappeared, Amy just sighed and closed her eyes and leaned against Speirs "I love you" She said.

He pulled her close "I know," he said as they drove off.

* * *

While everybody else was at the dance, Winters was alone in the enormous manor house, he was in the room he shared with Welsh, Nixon and two other Easy company lieutenants.

He heard someone walking down the hall, and a cup of coffee appeared in the door, and soon after Katie's head, peaked in "Busy" She asked

"No, not really" Winters said

"Well I am on my break, and I was hoping a handsome lieutenant would come by and visit, but instead I have to settle for you" Katie said and smiled at Winters

"Well here I am, so are you busy," He asked Katie

"Yes, we have wounded coming through, and it's not pretty I can tell you that" Katie said.

"Well I guess they are getting the best care in the army, with you there," Winters said

Katie finished her coffee "I have to get back, I have a surgery" Katie said and kissed Winters

"Be careful," He said

Katie just smiled, tapped the doorframe and walked out.

* * *

When Amy woke up the next morning she had a killer headache, and wanted to stay under her covers. The other girls started to move around; Amy just groaned and turned her back to them.

Lucky for her it was Sunday their day of.

Lane was sitting on the edge of her bed looking like hell, Katie was in day old scrubs, and she was clearly headed to bed; Mia and Sophie had been the only two who had been sober was on their way to the hospital.

Lane got up "I can't believe I have a meeting with Sink in an hour" She said and gathered her uniform and headed for the shower.

Amy and Katie was alone "Hey Katie, can I ask you something?" Amy said

"Sure, what up sissy?" Katie said

"I told Speirs, I loved him," Amy said

"What did he say?" Katie said

"I know" Amy said

"Amy, don't worry, that man is bat shit crazy about you, and of course he loves you, everybody can see that, he just don't know how to say it yet, now get some sleep" Katie said and fell asleep.

* * *

The next weeks was grueling, Easy company thought they were back at Toccoa, they had cross-country hikes and three day maneuvers?

Katie and Mia were so busy at the hospital that they only passed through their room. The girls had chosen to stay at the manor house, instead of being billeted with private families, this way they would still see each other once in a while.

Amy was gone so often on night maneuvers, that she didn't even have time to see or talk to Speirs, and she was starting to miss him.

The good thing about all the night training, was that the company men and women learned to recognize each other by silhouette, there was jumps and of course Sobel to deal with.

Amy and Lane got a kick out of shooting practice and Sobel experienced some near misses.

Easy was leading the Battalion on a night maneuver, Sobel was running around like a bull in a china-store.

He was in the front with Amy's third platoon, Sobel stopped the platoon, and Amy held a fist up and the platoon took a knee.

"Lieutenant Hunt, take the men behind that hedgerow," Sobel said

Amy motioned for the platoon to take cover.

"Tipper, Where is, where is the map" Sobel said

Amy led the men behind the hedgerow "Lieutenant, Sobel is lost again isn't he," Perconte asked

"Yeah he is lost," Amy said

"Hey Luz, can you do major Horton?" Amy asked

"Does a wild bear crap in the woods?" Luz said, imitating Horton

"Think the major can get the smock going" Amy asked

"I don't know" Luz said

He was pressured by the men, and he hushed them.

"What's the holdup Mr. Sobel?" Luz yelled

"who was that? who broke silence?" Sobel said

Tipper had to hold back a smile "I believe its major Horton sir," Tipper said.

"A fence, a barbed wire fence" Sobel said

"Well, you cut that fence and get this goddamn platoon on the move" Luz said, and the rest of the men were giggling behind him.

Needless to say Strayer was upset and Sobel even more, when Strayer informed him Major Horton was on leave in London.

* * *

Katie had her own problems at the hospital, they were under staffed, and once again she was the most experienced surgeon on staff, which meant she was on call twenty for hours a day, and it was taken its toll on her.

Katie was getting agitated and snapped at the nurses and medics; Roe finally had enough and went to Winters.

There was a knock on Winters door, he looked up and saw it was Roe "Roe, what can I do for you?" Winters said

"We got to do something about Captain Hendrick, she is threatening to kill everybody who comes in her way, and she is used and needs some rest, or something" Roe said

"Why do come to me with this, and not Major Barfield?" Winters asked Roe

"Well, I didn't want her to get in trouble sir" Roe said

"I will do what I can Doc" Winters said

Roe nodded and walked out.

Winters looked out of the window; he had enough problems, as it was the NCOs' was mumbling, the trouble with Sobel had intensified, Sobel was getting jumpy in the field.

Now this, Katie, he knew it had to be bad, he never heard her raise her voice, and so it had to be bad at the hospital.

He decided to go find Katie, if she was anywhere to be found that was. He met Nixon and Lane, they were watching some of the boys playing basket ball Winters stopped to, talk about the troubles with Sobel, he asked Lane about Katie, but she couldn't tell him anything, she never saw her, and Lane was just as busy.

"If you want to find her, ask Mia and if you need her, find Lipton, they are inseparable when they are both of, its sick" Lane said

Winters just looked at Lane "Ah ha" he said, and gestured to Lane who was leaning up against Nixon.

A jeep stopped, and sergeant Evans hopped out.

"With the compliments of Captain Sobel, sir" Evans said with a smirk

Nixon read the letter over Winters back, "for crying out loud, he misspelled Court Martial" Nixon said.

Winters folded the letter and walked off, he was mad at Sobel for messing with him like that.

Winters walked into the hospital and found Katie, she was in the supply room, trying to find something she could use for man who badly needed a slower drip.

"hey honey, what the matter with you" Katie could tell something was wrong.

"Sobel is court marshaling me for an infraction I didn't do" Winters said

Katie could tell Dick was most upset about the fact, Sobel was saying he had been negligent of his duty, not so much about the court martial itself.

"You have nothing to worry about, you didn't do anything wrong, we will find a way out of this" Katie said and hugged Winters.

"I know… it's just really frustrating, trying to put up with him" Winters said.

Winters were transferred to battalion mess and the NCO was getting ready to commit mutiny.

Mia was trying to talk Lipton out of going with the other NCO to turn in his stripes "You can't do it, you can get lined up against the wall and shot" Mia said

"I know you are scared, but I have to do this. I can't let them do it alone" Lipton said

"Please just be careful ok, don't do anything stupid, and don't let Ranney take charge he will blow it" Mia said

Lipton walked over and put his hands on her arms and looked her in the eyes "Its going to be fine" Ok.

Mia was still a little iffy about the whole deal, and decided to go to Winters.

He walked into the barn and saw the NCO writing their letters of resignation, he told them not to do it, that it was an act of mutiny and punishable by death or prison.

Winters talked the NCO out of presenting Sink with an ultimatum.

Lipton walked into the hospital along with Winters who was still a little mad at the NCO, he understood where they were coming from, and wished there was some way of getting rid of Sobel.

Winters just nodded at Lip, he knew the lieutenant hadn't forgiven the men yet.

Lipton found Mia, she was tending to a wounded man, and Lip just hung back and waited for her to finish.

Mia finished up and gave the man a few encouraging words, and put her hand on the man's shoulder.

Mia walked by Lipton and he followed her out into the hall way, he could tell she hadn't forgiven him either.

"So how did it go" She said over her shoulder

"Winters talked us out of it" Lipton said

"Good" Mia said and kept walking

Lipton followed her, he had to avoid patients and medics "Mia, it can't go on, we can't follow Sobel into combat, Mia will you stop please" Lipton said

Mia opened the door to the nurse's office, and gestured for Lipton to follow her in.

Lipton walked over and hugged Mia "Mia we can't follow him into combat, he will get us all killed, think about it, that means you and Amy to, and I can't have the two of you in danger, let's just hope Sink figures this out" Lipton said

Mia looked at Lipton, he was just worried about all the men, and it was one of his best qualities, his empathy and concern for the men.

"I know, I know, it's just my job to look after you" Mia said

"Yeah it is" Lip said and kissed her.

* * *

Somewhere else in the hospital Katie was throwing a tantrum, about the incompetence of the army, and how it was slowly sucking the life out of her.

Winters heard it all the way down the hall, and he hurried down to her office, opened the door and told the scared lieutenant, who was on the receiving end of the tantrum, to get out of there.

"What are you doing" Winters asked

"They keep sending me god damn residents, who know absolutely shit, I can't have them out in the field killing the men, I can't do it any more" Katie said

Winters could tell Mia was about to have a major break down, she was tough, but the sleep deprivation and the inexperienced staff was draining her, and the fact she was in charge of a company of inexperienced doctors and nurses didn't help. Katie had worked twenty four hours a day for weeks, it was getting too much.

"Katie, let's go get out of here, just for a couple of hours, come on let's take a nap, there is someone I want you to meet and you can yell at him if you want to" Winters said

"I can't leave my patients" Katie started to protest

"Yes you can, Mia and Sophie can come get you if anything happens, come on lets go" Winters said

"I…."

"We are going sweetheart, get in the jeep" Winters had led Katie outside while they were talking.

"Where are we going" Katie asked

"To get one of the new officers from Easy" Winters said and fired the engine

They drove off, and Winters stopped in front of the mess and a blond all American jock walked out.

"Oh I am guessing Nixon just loves him" Katie said

"He put him charge of the battalion's Physical training" Winters said

"Oh he got him running all over then, well I guess that man is just going to love Lane then" Katie said.

Buck Compton got in the front of the jeep.

Winters started to reprimand Buck "These men has been through the toughest training the army has to offer, under the worst possible circumstances, and they volunteered for it

Christ Dick I was just shooting craps with them, it's not like...

"You know why they volunteered, so when thing got really bad, the man in the foxhole next to them would be the best, not some draftee who would get them killed

"Are you ticked because they like me? because I am spending time to get to know my soldiers? I mean come on you been with these guys for what two years? I been here for six days" Buck said

"You were gambling Buck"

"so what soldiers do that, I don't deserve a reprimand for it" Buck tried to defend himself

"What if you won" Winters continued.

"What" Buck Said?

"WHAT IF YOU WON" Winters repeated, and got out of the jeep, he held his hand out to Katie who took and he helped her down from the jeep.

Katie turned and looked at Buck "Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men" Katie said and walked off, leaving a mopping Buck behind.

* * *

A few days later Sink came down and gave all the noncoms hell, Sobel got transferred Chilton Foliat.

"Hey girls come here and check out the new Easy commander," Sophie said

The girls were in the mess and Winters was showing lieutenant Meehan the ropes, they were standing outside talking.

The girls slowly gathered by the door and looked out, they all looked at Meehan with very approving eyes, and he was a handsome man.

Nixon and Lipton were walking towards the mess, and noticed the girls checking out the new lieutenant.

They didn't approve of their girls drooling over some guy, but then again, it was fun to watch Meehan squirm under the girls gazing eyes.

"What are you doing" Nixon asked

Lane turned around and smiled "We are just enjoying the fact Easy got a new CO." She said

"Sure you were" Lipton said and pulled Mia to him just make sure.

Speirs came around the corner and noticed Amy and Sophie was giggling, and ogling the new Easy lieutenant.

"Sophie, McMillan wants you" Speirs said and gave Amy a cold stare and Amy flushed knowing she had been caught.

Winters looked at the girls "Well sir, I think we should move on" he said to Meehan.

Christmas came and went and so did new years on the first day in April, easy moved with the rest of the 101st to Uppottery.


	10. Chapter 10

Easy had been moved to the closed air field at Uppottery, where they would be confined until the invasion.

Luz and Talbert was on their way to go on guard duty, when they saw Amy and Lane climb into a jeep with all their gear.

Luz turned and looked at "Where the heck are they going?" he asked Talbert.

"I have no idea, but here comes Speirs, he might now something" Tab said.

The men had the a huge amount of respect for Speirs, and he was a little scary

"Lieutenant sir, do you know where lieutenant Hunt and Captain Easterday is going? sir" Luz asked him

"What do you mean, where they are going?" Speirs asked Luz

"Sir, we just saw the lieutenant and the captain get into a jeep with all their gear" Luz said

"I have no idea, but I am going to find out" Speirs said and walked off.

Luz looked after him "Wonder if he will shoot someone this time" he said and shook his head.

Speirs was walking fast towards the HQ, when he ran into Nixon, he looked at the man with angry eyes "Where is she going" Speirs said

"Where is who going?" Nixon asked Speirs, he was totally unaware of the fact that Lane and Amy had left.

Speirs told Nixon what Luz and Talbert had told him, and Nixon dropped his head, he wasn't sure he would get through this without Lane.

"Ron I don't know where they are, but I sure as hell intend to find out" He said, and the two men walked into the HQ and knocked on Strayer's door

"Come in" Strayer said

He looked at the two men who entered his office, and he knew exactly why they were there. Strayer had hoped the two men wouldn't figure what had happened until later, when he had some specific answers for them.

"Sir, we were wondering where captain Easterday and Lieutenant Hunt was transferred to" Nixon asked

"Nixon, Speirs, I don't have exact answers for you at this time, their transfers is kept strictly on a need to know basis.

"Sir, I am sure the men in lieutenants Hunts platoon, is going to wonder where their platoon leader has disappeared to, this close to the invasion" Nixon said

Speirs had kept his mouth shut, he didn't need any trouble, he was just scared, and where the hell was Amy? and would he see her again?

"Lieutenant Nixon, I can see how the men would wonder, but if, and I repeat if… I tell the two of you, this stays here, until about two hours from now, they should have reached their destination by then" Strayer said

"So where are they going?" Nix said, he was afraid he already knew the answer.

"They are jumping with Pathfinders, they are on their way to the training area as we speak" Strayer said

Ron could feel his buckle under him, his sweet Amy, with that gang of rejects, the pathfinders was notorious trouble makers and, they all had some sort of death wish.

Nixon sat down in the nearest chair, Lane and he had been collecting Intel for the pathfinders, and he knew what they would be jumping into, the Germans had been executing anti airborne maneuvers for the last month.

It was extremely risky, and the love of his life was going with the idiots who volunteered for the suicide mission, Nixon felt like puking.

**_Earlier that morning_**

Amy was setting up for the class she had to teach, somehow Welsh had conned her into teaching the compass and map reading class in one the barracks.

The door opened and Strayer's runner came in.

"Ma'am, you are need at the HQ" He said and held the door open for Amy, they walked out to a jeep, Amy noticed Lane was sitting in the back, pouting she had been dragged away from a intelligence briefing and told to get her ass to Strayer's office.

"What's this about" Amy asked Lane

"I have no fucking idea, but it best be good, or someone is going to get an ass whooping" Lane said

The Jeep stopped in front of the HQ and Amy and Lane found Strayer's office.

They knocked on the door and were told to enter, in the office were Strayer, Sink, the leader of the pathfinders Gavin and lieutenant Meehan.

"Lieutenant, Captain" Sink nodded

"You are probably wondering why you here?" Strayer said

"Sir" the girls mumbled

"The pathfinders are in desperate need of good leadership and excellent minds, so the two of you are going to jump with them boys, before the invasion starts" Sink said

Amy felt like fainting, she was expected to leave the men this close to the invasion, they had to be kidding.

All Lane could think about was how Nixon would react.

"Now the two of you are not to whisper a word about this to anyone, and you will be leaving without saying goodbye, will that be a problem?" Sink said

"No sir" The two of them said

"Go pack your gear, you will rejoining your unit after the invasion, so don't worry, this won't be forever" Strayer said and winked at the girls

"Sir a question; who will be taking over third platoon" Amy asked Meehan

"Buck, so don't worries they are in good hands Lieutenant, you go give them Germans hell for us ok" Meehan said

Amy and Lane saluted the men, and stalked of, when they were outside of the HQ Amy turned to Lane, she was about to complain about having her men taking away from her, when she noticed Lane was crying, Amy led Lane around the HQ and sat her down on a bench overlooking the mansions park

"Hey what's wrong?" she asked Lane

"I can't, I can't leave right now, what about all the work there needs done here? and what about Lew? oh god this is going to kill him" Lane said and started to sob harder, she folded her hands behind her neck, this wasn't happening. Pathfinders, really? two women almost alone in occupied France.

"Lane we need to get out of here and pack our stuff, don't talk to anyone, just smile and look cute" Amy said

Lane and Amy went back to the girls pyramid tent and packed their stuff. Gavin was waiting for them by the jeep, the last thing Amy saw before they left the camp was Luz and Talbert looking at her and Speirs walking towards them, she knew he was going to be extremely upset and she just hoped he wasn't going to kill anyone, while she was gone.

The ride to North Witham was long and Amy couldn't feel her ass when they arrived, she knew Lane and she was going to catch all kind of hell when they got there just because they were 1) Women 2) with 101st

The jeep pulled up in a garage area, a bunch of guys were gathered around a truck which had broken down, they were trying to fix it, but it seemed impossible.

Lane walked over and slapped the guy on the shoulder "Let me take a look at that" she said and the guy pulled away from the truck

Lane adjusted a few things and looked at the guy," try and fire it up" the truck started and the guys looked at Lane with respect in their eyes.

"Listen up" Gavin said

The guys gathered around him "Men this here is Captain Lane Easterday and Lieutenant Amy Hunt, they are going to train with us for the mission, they will be treated with respect, they are the best of Easy company, so be polite at all times" Gavin said and jumped down from the jeep

"The two you, follow me" He said to Amy and Lane

He showed them into a tent like the one the guys was quartered in.

"This here is your bunk, they guys are next door, training will commence in half an hour" The commander left them and Lane and Amy looked at each other, they had no idea what they were doing, or why they had been chosen for this, but they guessed they were going to find out soon enough.

Amy soon found out why she was there, the men was undisciplined and rowdy as heck, they need some of the discipline Sobel had drilled into her at Toccoa.

She was going to jump with stick five, and with her she would have a squad of body guards, she trained the men in tactical warfare and the use of the Eureka transmitter.

It was long days and hard work, but rewarding. Amy trained with the men and slowly they were becoming a pathfinder unit ready for their mission and combat.

Lanes job was a different story, it was uphill the Intel section of the Pathfinders was slow and at times downright stupid, it seemed like they didn't know what to do with the Intel Lane provided them with.

Most of the officers didn't know their ass from their arm pit and Lane was about ready to go back to Easy. There were too many commanding officers wanting to know about what was going on at the same time, so Lane didn't have the necessary time to Analyze the Intel that came her way, finally she had enough.

She was standing in the HQ main office staring at a map of Normandy, she was pint pointing the best DZ for the soldiers, the officers kept interrupting and everybody had an opinion on where and how the pathfinders should do their job once on the ground.

Lane turned around and looked around the office; there were too many runners and secretaries. The security of the place was a freaking joke. Lane was told not to tell Lewis were she was and it seemed like the whole world could walk in and out of the office.

"Ok can I have your attention?" the room went silent and everybody looked at Lane.

"Everybody with the rank below lieutenants out now" Lane said

The secretaries and staff runners mumbled and slipped out to the front office.

Lane looked at the remaining officers, the only one who out ranked her was Major Gavin, and he had told her that all Intel work was here domain.

"Look, you have been too soft, from now on, until the invasion, the only people in here are personal linked to S2 work, so if someone in here is not working with S2 get out now" Lane said

A WAC lieutenant stood up and walked out.

"Good, let's get down to business" Lane said

Lane turned around and pointed to the map, "The last month Lieutenant Nixon and I ,have been collecting Intel about the German troop movements in Normandy, our drop zones will be in close to the German forces the German forces has been doing anti airborne maneuvers the past month, which means our boys and girls will be jumping into a hornets' nest, so from now on all Intel stays here, and are to be reported strictly to me. I will Analyze all Intel and decide what to do with it, understood" Lane said

A loud and clear "Yes Ma'am" was heard

Lane smiled and turned back to her map, guess Speirs was on to something, it paid off being a hard ass.

After her speech Lane didn't have any problems, and her and Amy could do their work and prepare for the Mission.

There were 300  
Pathfinders jumping into Normandy with different drop zones, Lane knew a lot of the men would be killed on this jump and she hoped Amy's stick was well prepared.

**_Mean while in Uppottery _**

Katie came back from the aid station and she immediately noticed Amy and Lanes gear was missing, she almost panicked and ran out of the tent, the first person she ran into was a very upset lieutenant Nixon "Nix, do you know where Lane and Amy has been moved to" She asked Nixon, Katie just thought they had been moved to another tent, near the company.

"I can't tell you here, but be in third platoon's tent in fifteen minutes, then I will let you know" Nixon said and stalked of Katie could tell he was upset, this wasn't good.

Katie walked down to the aid station and dragged Mia out of there.

"Something's up, we need to be in third platoon's tent in right now" Katie said

Katie didn't mention anything to Mia, about Lane and Amy being gone, they walked to the tent and Mia wondered what was up third platoon that was the one Lipton was in, so she hoped it wasn't bad news.

The two of them walked into the tent and was greeted by the boys, Talbert snuck up to Katie and put an arm around her shoulder "Do you have any idea why we are here" He asked her

Katie sat down on the nearest cot, and pushed Shifty out of her way.

"I have no idea" she said

The tent flap opened and Winters, Nixon, Buck and Meehan walked in.

"You men are probably wondering why you were called here" Meehan said

"Damn right" Most of the men mumbled

"Lieutenant Hunt won't be jumping with you, she has been transferred to pathfinder's for this mission, and lieutenant Compton will be taking her place, Captain Easterday is with Pathfinders as well, so we have to settle for Nixon at this time" Meehan said

The officers walked out and Mia and Katie looked at each other.

Mia came over and sat down next to Katie "This is not good, can you imagine being with Speirs at this time, he is going to kill someone" Mia said

Katie smiled "Yeah well, we just have to keep the guys in line and everything will be fine" Katie said

Katie turned around and looked at Luz and Talbert, they were talking amongst them self, they were both visibly upset, but there was nothing any of them could do. The brass had made a decision and it was out of their hands, Katie just hoped she would see the girls again soon.

That night the company officers received their initial briefing on their D-Day mission from Nixon and Hester, they were told to memorize the sand tables and their route of advance and enemy situation.

The officers was to brief the men, their mission was to drop in to Ste .Marie du Mont and to seize four cause ways behind Utah beach on the Cotentin peninsula.

The men studied the Sand tables and learned the whole area by heart; third platoon missed Amy and moped a lot about it.

The men were issued French Francs and a dime store cricket and were told the pass word.

Winters distributed Ammunition and grenades to Easy, the men took hot showers and were given extra rations of candy and cigarettes.

Katie and Mia was busy packing for their jump. Katie hoped the equipment would find its way from the beach to her aid station without much delay; she could only jump with so much extra weight.

She was wondering if she would make it or not, would Mia? And would everybody she had come to love, make the big jump and live to tell about it.

**_June 4th_**

Meehan was standing on a jeep "Listen up Easy company, the channel coast is soaked in with rain and fog, high winds on the drop zone no jump tonight" There was a loud mumbled and you have to be kidding me.

Mia was pissed, she had spend the day consoling the nervous men, she decided to go and watch the movie with Lipton and they were sitting next to Guarnere, he pulled a letter from his pocket and tried to read it, but it was too dark in tent, so he walked out.

Mia had a feeling something was wrong and followed him out, Guarnere read the letter, and Johnny Martin had stuffed it in his pocket earlier. Martin's wife had written and told him that Guarnere brother had been killed at Monte Casino, but Martin didn't have the heart to tell him.

Mia saw Guarnere read the letter "Hey Bill what's up"

Bill turned around "I got Martins letter by mistake, my brother has been killed at Monte Casino, where is that any way" He asked

"Italy, are you ok" Mia asked again

"Yeah I am fine I am just going to take a walk" Bill said

Mia went back into the tent and sat down next to Lipton and took his hand, he looked at her and smiled, he leaned over to her "You want to get out of here" He asked her

Mia nodded and they got up and walked out of the tent, on their way they met Nixon and Winters who was talking about Sobel and Happy hour.

Mia and Lip walked around the air field and talked about the jump, they were both anxious to get it over with, and the postponing of the jump hadn't been good for anyone.

Lipton walked Mia back to the tent the girls were in, they said goodnight and Lipton kissed Mia like it was the last time he would see her.

Mia dove in the tent, but returned rather quickly.

"I am going to bunk at the aid station tonight" She said

"Who" Lip asked

"Lets just say someone is in there working of their nerves" Mia said and walked towards the aid station, on her way there she ran into Winters and Katie, Mia told Katie about Sophie and McMillan going at it in the tent, so both girls decided it was best to crash in the aid station that night.

The next day was full of preparation, Easy company was ordered to be at the airfield at 20.30 and be ready to load and go.

Mia and Katie were standing by their plane; Katie was in Winters stick and Mia in third platoon with Buck and Lipton.

They were handing out air sickness pills and the men mumbled something about never getting air sick before, Katie knew it was scheme to keep them sedated on the way over the channel.

* * *

Amy and Lane was already on their way over the channel, the pathfinders were to drop, before the rest of the paratroopers.

Amy and Lane was assigned to the stick, who was to assist the 101st and the 82nd

These pathfinder teams were assigned to Drop Zones C (101st) and N (82nd) each carried two BUPS beacons. The units for DZ N were intended to guide in the parachute resupply drop scheduled for late on D-Day, but the pair of DZ C were to provide a central orientation point for all the SCR-717 radars to get bearings. However the units were damaged in the drop and provided no assistance.

Amy and Lanes stick ended scattered all over the place, and as soon as they landed they were attacked by German forces.

Amy and Lane managed to escape, they were walking along a hedgerow when a German patrol passed them, Lane quickly dove into the hedgerow and crunched down, Amy wasn't fast enough and the German patrol took her as their prisoner, Lane had to bite her cheek not to scream.


	11. Chapter 11

Lane wandered into the assembly area. She was dehydrated, she hadn't slept since her drop and she had to find Nixon and regiment HQ. Lane had to report Amy MIA, and she needed to tell Katie, Mia and even worse Speirs about Amy being captured.

Nixon was talking to Hester; they were both looking at a map, and trying to figure out where there would be the largest number of enemy concentration.

Hester looked over Nixon shoulder, Nixon noticed Hester's facial expression change, he turned around and saw Lane standing there looking like she had been walking around the French countryside for days, instead of twenty hours.

"Lane, oh god sweetheart, are you ok?" he asked

Nixon hurried over and ushered her over to a chair. Lane fell down on the chair and buried her hand in her hands, she looked up at Nixon, he could see the tears in her eyes, and about five seconds later Lane was a blubbering mess.

"Lane what happened? tell me please" Nixon said, he was on his knees.

"It's Amy, she…she is gone" Lane said

"Gone as in…." Nixon trailed of

"No, No, she was captured by the Germans" Lane said, and started to cry again.

"Oh god, oh I am so sorry, we have to tell Sink, and Speirs…he is going to flip his lid, this is bad" Nixon said

"I know, I know, it's just hard, can I have some water please?" Lane said

Nixon handed her his canteen, Lane took a big gulp of water, and handed it back to him

"Let's go find Sink, so we can get Amy back" Lane said

Nixon escorted Lane to regiment HQ, Nixon and Lane saluted Sink and Strayer.

"Captain Easterday, damn good to see you, sorry about your mission, where is Lieutenant Hunt?" Sink said

"Well sir, that's why I am here, Lieutenant Hunt, was taken prisoner by the Germans almost immediately after our drop" Lane said fighting her tears.

"That's…, a damn shame, we have to find a way to locate her, and get her back here safe" Sink said

Lane and Nixon both waited for any further instructions from the colonel.

"The two of you get back to finding a way to destroy the 88 we are hearing" Sink said, and dismissed the two S2 officers.

Lane looked at Nix and sighed, he pulled into a hug and kissed her on top of her head, "You should go and get yourself checked out by Mia or Katie" Nixon said

Lane nodded and looked at Nix, he kissed her and send her off, he watched her walk away, he needed to find Speirs and Winters and if possible Lipton.

Nixon walked toward the makeshift barn where Easy was assembled; he saw Winter and Lipton there.

He looked at the two men "I need to talk to you" Nixon said

"Sure, what's up Nix?" Winters said

"What can we do for you?" Lipton said

"I don't know how to say this, but Amy was taken prisoner by the Germans after the drop" Nixon said

Winters stared at him, not sure he heard him right "Excuse me what?" he said

"Amy was captured by the Germans" Nixon said, and looked at the two men, who were now in chock.

"That's, that's, I don't know what to say" Lipton said

"Has anyone told Mia and Katie yet?" Lipton said

"Lane is at the aid station right now, so I am guessing they know by now" Nixon said

"I have even worse news, you are going to take out the 88, we can hear over by the manor, so gather your men Dick, this show is yours" Nixon said.

* * *

Winters gathered his men, and told them about the mission. Nixon stood and watched them for a minute, before he had to go and find Speirs and tell him about Amy.

Nixon found Speirs by Brecourt Manor; he was watching some German Prisoners while smoking.

"Ron, I have some news for you" Nixon said

"What Lew?" Speirs said, he hadn't seen Amy yet and he was getting edgy. Nixon looked at Speirs, he was about to make the man's world turned upside down "Amy was taken prisoner by the Germans, and we don't know, where they are keeping her yet" Nixon said

Speirs looked at Nixon with anger in her eyes. Speirs walked over to the German prisoners and offered them some cigarettes. Nixon knew the conversation was over, and walked away. On his way towards HQ, Nixon passed Malarkey who was on his way to find Easy.

Malarkey saw Speirs handing out the cigarettes to the prisoners, before slinging his Thompson sub machine gun around and shooting down all the prisoners.

Speirs stood and looked at the dead Germans, their fellow soldiers had taken his Amy and Speirs had once promised, he would kill anyone who harmed her, and maybe one of those dead bastards had been part of Capturing Amy.

Speirs was blind with anger and rage, he rounded up his platoon, and ran towards the guns Easy was send out to capture.

Speirs came sprinting down the trench, where Winters was taking cover.

"You mind if Dog, has a go, at the last gun?" he asked Winters

"Go ahead" Winters said

Speirs sprinted toward the last gun, and at one point he ran out of the trench, and made a suicidal run for the last gun.

Winters mumbled under his breath "Guess he heard about Amy"

The men who were with Winters, looked at him with horror in their eyes, especially the men from third platoon, "What about Lieutenant Hunt?" one of them said

Winters sighed, he wanted to tell all the men at once "Lieutenant Hunt was taken prisoner by the Germans after the pathfinders jump" Winters said

The men became silent and someone muttered "Son of a bitch"

"Yeah" Winter said.

After the final gun was destroyed, and Easy had the Germans on the run, Winters and Easy walked back to the assembly area. Winters had found a bunch of maps, and wanted to hand them to Nixon, they looked important.

* * *

Winters found Nixon at the aid station, he was hugging Lane. Katie and Mia both looked at Winters with red eyes.

As soon as Katie saw Winters, she threw herself around his neck and started to cry "I can't believe she is gone" Katie said

In Katie's mind Amy was dead, there were no way, the Germans was going to let her live.

"We will get her back, don't worry" Winters said and kissed Katie on the head.

He motioned to Nixon, who followed him outside the aid station, "I found these" Winters said and handed the maps to Nixon, Without any warning Nixon took off, Lane saw him take off and ran after him.

They ran three miles to the beach; the map had every German artillery position on it, and Nixon knew it was important for the Navy guys to get the map.

As a thank Nixon and Lane got a ride on the first tank that landed on beach, they rode back on the tank, and when they saw Winters, Lane smiled "Hey soldier going my way?" Lane asked

Winters looked up and climbed on board the tank, and told the tank commander where he wanted them to fire.

By mid afternoon Brecourt manor and surrounding area was secured, and cleared of any Germans.

* * *

They all moved to Culoville, and the guys were in the back of a truck, laughing and just enjoying being alive.

Mia opened the flap and climbed in, she was searching for Lipton, and lord be hold there he was.

Mia sat down next to him, there was a god awful smell in the back of the truck "Lord what died in here" She asked

"Malarkeys ass" Guarnere said.

"Mal, you are Irish, what the hell do you know about cooking?" Mia said

Malarkey turned around and looked at her "If you have reservation somewhere else, I would love to join you lieutenant" Malarkey said.

"No that's ok, I can eat whatever, you are cooking" she said.

Mia settled down, she was getting sleepy; she leaned into Lipton who put his arm around her and squeezed her tight.

He was glad she was here with him, but he couldn't help but think about Amy, and where she was, and if she was safe and alive.

After sleeping about a half an hour Lipton shook Mia, "Mia honey, you need to move, dinner is ready" Lipton said

Mia opened her eyes and Lipton got lost in them, she was something else, Mia was the kind of person who put other people first, she would give somebody the clothes of her back, if she thought they needed it more.

Mia sat up, and smiled at the men, she was exhausted, but she was determined not to show it, she was the company nurse, she needed them to trust her at all times, and be ready to tell her if they were hurting emotionally or physically.

Mia ate what Malarkey had cooked, without saying a word, Lipton and the rest of the men looked at her in awe.

Mia looked at them "What?"

"I can't believe you, you just eat whatever people hand you, don't you?" Guarnere said

"Well, if you grew up in a household with four brothers, you just eat whatever they hand you, so you won't starve" Mia said

Mia and her brothers had lived with their mother after their father passed away, they were poor as dirt, and the reason all of her brothers and herself had joined the army was to escape poverty.

Mia loved her family, and was devastated when Tommie died in Algeria.

The rest of Mia's brothers served in the 82nd airborne, she hadn't seen any of them yet, but she hoped to see them soon.

* * *

Katie was finally able to take break from the make shift aid station. She had worked hard all day and most of the night, she stepped out and took a deep breath of fresh air. She saw Winters walking towards the edge of town, fumbling with a can, while trying to open it.

She walked up to him, and took the tin can from him, and opened it "Here, don't ever get a cat" She said.

Winters looked at her and smiled; they walked in silence and eventually sat down on an abandoned jeep.

They looked out over some tree tops, and they could hear the battles going on in the back ground.

"If we make it out of this I alive, I promise you, I will buy us a nice and quiet place, where we can live in peace forever" Winters said

Katie smiled, she knew that was the closes thing to a proposal, she would ever get from Dick.

Katie was thinking about her child and young adulthood, she had always been the smart one, the one her parents counted on to make it big, she had been paced most of her life, so the promise from Dick about a life in peace and quiet sounded perfect to her.

* * *

The next day the 506th moved out towards Vierville and St. Come du Mont.

Easy was in the lead and not long after moving out, they were fired on, from the rear.

The enemy was quickly destroyed. Winters saw Speirs walking towards battalion HQ; he looked very angry and upset. Dog had a rough morning, and their Company commander had been killed, and McMillan had taken over from Grosse.

"Ron, Wait what happened?" Winters asked the angry Lieutenant

"I had to shoot one of my sergeants to prevent fratricide" Speirs said

"I am sorry, that couldn't have been an easy decision" Winters said

"No, but it was the only way to save the rest of the company" Speirs said and walked off.

* * *

On June 11th Easy and the rest of 506th set out on a night march to Carentan.

"First platoon on your feet, it's getting dark soon so, I want light and noise discipline, and no playing grab Fanny with man I front of you Luz" Welsh said

"So if Captain Easterday is in front of me, I can grab her fanny?" Luz asked, all that got him was a slap on the back on the head from Lane.

The columns moved out. Welsh and first platoon was in the lead.

Easy company had their fair share of night marches with Sobel, was fully prepared for the march.

After marching two hours Welsh stopped the company, Winters walked up to Him "Hey Harry What's the problem?" he asked

"We lost Fox company, god damn it" Welsh said

"It's not your fault, this is about officers crapping out on their training, just send two men out to find Fox" Winters said.

This continued and together with the fact, that regiment kept changing orders, Easy and the rest of the 506th was late not reaching Carentan until 05.30 half an hour late.

* * *

The orders came to attack at 06.00.

First platoon under Welsh was on the left side of the road, with second platoon on the right, and third under Buck was in reserve.

They were in the ditches, everything was Erie quiet, and the Germans hadn't revealed their machine-gun position or fired any mortars.

At 06.00 Winters ordered "Move out"

Welsh kicked off the advance, running down the road toward the T-junction 50 away, his platoon followed.

Welsh and Luz was caught up against a wall by machinegun fire "Where the hell is everybody" Welsh screamed

"I have no idea" Luz screamed back

The German machine gun opened fire straight down the road, it was in perfect position.

When the German opened fire, the seventh man stopped and stayed in the ditch, and so did the rest of the platoon, trying to hide from the Germans.

Winters jumped out in the road, yelling and screaming at the men to get moving, they didn't move, and Winters grabbed them, and pulling them out of the ditch, and pushing them towards the town. Winters were like a mad man, yelling at the men and kicking them.

Nixon, Lane and the rest of the battalion HQ was hollering at Winters to get them moving.

Welsh were up ahead trying to deal with German machine gun, and Winters knew he was dead if he didn't get the men moving.

Finally the men started to move.

Mean while Welsh was taking care of the German machine gun, while he wondered where the hell everybody was, he and the men with him tossed grenades at the at the gun, followed by some burst from his carbine.

The rest of Easy poured into the Carentan cleaning out houses, Tipper got hurt and Liebgott dragged him back to the aid station

Lipton and Buck led third platoon into the intersection, there was an explosion, "we need to clear the street in back" Lipton was yelling, when an explosion sounded almost knocking Lipton over.

"Move out, take cover, they got us zeroed in" Lipton was yelling to the men, trying to get them of the street.

Lipton got hit by an explosion and took some shrapnel to the face, wrist and groin.

Talbert took him to the aid station, where Mia and Katie was very busy taking care of the wounded from the ongoing battle.

When Mia saw Talbert carry Lipton in to the aid station, she almost panicked, but she knew she had to be the one who was calm and collected, she put a smile on her face and walked up to the stretcher Lipton was on

"Well, let's take a look at it" Mia said and cut Lipton pants up to assess the wound.

She smiled at him "Don't worry C, everything is exactly where it's supposed to be" She said.

She decided it wasn't bad, and Lipton would live to fight another day.

Taking care of the wounded men and sending them on their way, Mia weaved around the aid station, checking on Lipton every so often.

When the jeep came for him, she held his hand "I will see you back in England ok?" She said and squeezed his hand and kissed him.

Winters were standing in the middle of the road, when he caught a piece of a ricochet in the leg, he got himself to the aid station where Roe fixed him up and bandaged his leg.

Talbert and Luz was clearing out houses in town, for some reason Luz decided not to throw in a grenade, and just kick the door in, the two of them rushed up stairs and when they opened the first door it was empty, but the next room wasn't.

Tied to a chair in the middle of the room, was a soldier, an American soldier, there was a lot of blood, and they weren't exactly sure the soldier was alive.

Talbert rushed over and untied the soldier, when he tilted the head of the soldier back, Talbert sucked in a breath, and Luz let out a string of choice words, the Soldier was Amy, she was beaten and tortured and barely breathing.

Luz picked up Amy and carried her to the aid station. Speirs saw Luz carrying something in his arms, and it only took him a second to realize it was Amy, she looked like she was dead, and Speirs immediately ran up to Luz and took Amy from his arms.

Speirs carried her to the aid station, and he yelled for Katie and she came rushing. Katie about burst into tears when she saw the condition Amy was in; she had trouble breathing and had lost a lot of blood.

"Out everybody who isn't needed here get the fuck out" Katie said, half of easy company was gathered around Amy, the word had spread that Talbert and Luz had found Lieutenant Hunt.

Katie closed the door to the room; they had put Amy in, and turned to Mia, "let's get her clothes off, so we can assess the injuries"

"She looks like, she been to hell and back" Mia said.

When they got her clothes off, they found that Amy had been badly beaten, and her body was covered wounds, from where they had beaten her with different objects. She had three broken ribs, which caused her forced breathing, she was lucky she hadn't been raped, just beaten a lot.

Speirs was pacing up and down the hall; he was pissed off and concerned. Amy had looked more dead than alive when he brought her in, what if she died? what if he lost his Amy?

The door to the room opened and Katie walked out, she saw Speirs and Winters waiting in the hall, "She is going to be just fine, she has just been through a lot, and if she wakes up in the next few hours, I believe there is no brain damage, we have to get her to England as soon as possible, but for now I am keeping her here with Mia and me" Katie said.

Speirs walked in and saw Amy laying in the bed pale and covered in bandage, she was only wearing a tank top, she looked so innocent and beautiful, and Speirs sat down besides the bed and just held her hand.

* * *

A counter attack from the Germans was expected, and Easy received orders to go to high ground and dig in with Fox and Dog company on their flanks.

Easy was walking towards high ground, Perconte was complaining as usual "How long are we going to walk George" Perco said

"Jeez I don't know, until they tell us to stop" Luz answered the pesky Italian.

Welsh had first platoon dig in at a tactical position covered by the hedgerow, and Buck did the same after consulting with Welsh and Winters.

Ordering two in each foxhole, Buck ended up sharing a foxhole with Sergeant Talbert,

At 0300 Talbert was to be relieved from guard duty, he tapped Smith on his helmet with his gun, Smith being scared and sleepy just saw a person in a German Poncho and stabbed Talbert with his bayonet, Talbert cried out and the shout for a medic sounded.

Mia, who was in a foxhole with Luz, was half asleep she woke up and sprinted towards the shout for medic, she could see Talbert leaning up against a tree, and Smith kept repeating "I am so sorry, so sorry"

* * *

The order came to attack at 05.30 and right on time the attack started, the Germans had superior fire power.

Welsh saw a German tank head their way, he grabbed a bazooka and pulled a private with him, "I will shoot, you just load, when I say, I have to cook it and its weakest spot, when it tips up" Welsh was calm, even when tank turned their 88 at them, Welsh waited for the perfect moment to fire, after firing he just ran back to cover with the private hot on her heels.

Lane was standing on a jeep, with Nixon, Strayer and Sink, watching the Germans almost over run the companies. Dog and Fox had to retreat and that left Easy high and dry.

"get Easy on the horn and tell them to retreat" Sink said

Lane put her hand on his arm "Don't, they will be alright" She said

Sink gave her a suspicious look and just then 2nd armored came over the ridge and in a minute they had the Germans fleeing and Easy let the Germans have it.

Welsh screamed "hello beautiful babies"

Welsh let out a breath and turned to high five Shifty next to him.

Easy and the rest of the companies returned to Carentan, Speirs hurried to the aid station to see Amy.

He found her awake and very happy to see him, she cried when he held her in his arms, she really wanted to tell him everything that happened, but she couldn't, not right now. Speirs just held her and let her cry, he was grateful he had gotten her back alive.

Soon after they were interrupted by third platoon, who busted into the room, wanting to see their CO. Amy was happy to see her boys, but after five minutes, she kicked them out, she was tired. Amy was shipped off to England the next day, and not long after that Easy company followed her.


	12. Chapter 12

Easy was back in Aldbourne, it was time to rest, and take the ten day leave, they had been promised.

The first two days was spent resting and take inventory. The officers took inventory of the men and put in orders for replacements.

Winters had been tasked with reorganizing the company, he chose to stay in Aldbourne to write letters to the parents of the men he lost, and to spend time with Katie, who was busy at the hospital and didn't have any leave.

The first thing Lane did was head to the hospital to see Amy, when Lane walked in to Amy's room; she saw a worried Speirs and a sleeping Amy.

Lane walked over and put her hand on Ron's shoulder.

"How is she doing Lieutenant" Lane asked him.

Ron looked at her with tears in his eyes "Captain, she keeps drifting in and out of consciousness, and when she is awake, she refuses to speak about what she has been through" he said.

"But she was doing so well in France, what happened?" Lane asked

"They wouldn't let Katie treat her, she panicked when one of the doctors tried to treat her, so they sedated her and she didn't respond well to the drug" Ron said

While they talked he had held Amy's hand in his and Lane noticed a tear rolling down his face.

Lane sat down on the chair next to Ron and looked at Amy "You really do love her don't you" Lane asked him.

Lane was surprised to say the least, to see the rough and tough lieutenant sitting in a hospital in England and cry because of a woman.

"She is the love of my life, she is the one, I need her to come back to me. I can't be without her" Speirs said

Lane almost cried as well, she was tremendously touched by Speirs display of vulnerability, she was speechless, she had always thought that Speirs would just push on no matter what happened.

Ron got up "I need to get back to my men before they leave, will you sit with her while I am gone?" he asked Lane.

"Yeah sure, and if I have to leave, I will find Mia" Lane said.

Lane sat and held Amy's hand, she talked to her "I need you to wake up, we need you to be alright, your boys needs you, Ron will absolutely die without you" Lane said begging for Amy to wake up.

Mia walked in to the room and sat down in chair Ron had just vacated "I thought he would never leave, he scares the shit out of me, all he have done is stare at the nurses and doctors with those cold eyes" Mia said.

"He is actually not that bad" Lane said, she was quite surprised; she was still stunned by the way Ron had acted.

Lane looked at Mia "Why are you not in Scotland with Lipton?" Lane asked Mia

"Because I didn't get any leave, that's why" Mia said

"Well that's the burden of being the best" Lane said and nudged Mia

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, holler if you need me ok?" Mia said and got up and walked out of the room.

Lane sat and stared at Amy, she felt like she should have done something, she should have tried to save her, just done something, and maybe Amy wouldn't be here, but out and about somewhere in England with her man.

Lane sat with Amy and waited for her to wake up, or for Ron to return, she fell asleep on the chair she was sitting in, she woke up when someone kicked her leg and handed her a cup of coffee, she looked up, it was Nixon looking down at her.

"She still out" Nix asked

"yeah Ron left about" Lane looked at her wrist watch "An hour ago, he should be back soon" Lane said and took a big gulp of the coffee "This is my fault" Lane said, not looking away from Amy "I should have done something, I was right there, I should have tried to save her, I should have done something" Lane said

Tears started to fall down her cheeks, Nixon just watched Lane carefully, he knew she needed to get this of her chest.

"It's my fault, I should have protected her" Lane said

"You couldn't have saved her, even if you tried, and if you had there would be two officers in here praying to god instead of one" a voice from the door said

Lane turned her head, Ron was back, and he looked even more tired than when he left.

Ron walked over and pulled Lane up and hugged her, "It's not your fault, it's those Germans that did this to her" Ron said.

Lane walked over and put her arms around Nixon's chest and leaned in to him, "I still feel guilty" Lane said.

Mia walked back into the room, she saw the tired officers gathered around Amy's bed, and she knew they were about to keel over.

"Ok out, all of you, I will send someone for you, if you are needed here" she said

The officers started to protest.

"Do not make me pull Captain Hendrick out of surgery, because I will and you will be the ones to feel the wrath of the Hendrick" Mia said with a smirk on her face. She knew the threat of Katie coming in here after being pulled of surgery, would be enough to get the officers moving.

"In the words of Sink, now get" Mia said

Walking out of the hospital Lane put her arm around Speirs shoulder "You need me to get McMillan" Lane asked, she knew the two men was close.

"No that's ok, I will manage, go get some sleep" Speirs said and headed towards the D. Company's Barrack.

Nixon looked at Lane "you need to rest, because we are going away tomorrow and when we get back, we will be extremely busy"

"I can't, I can't leave Amy, not now" Lane said and shook her head

"Its ok, I talked Katie, it is ok, we won't be far away and she will let us know if Amy needs us, or if she wakes up" Lew said.

"Well I guess it is ok then" Lane said and yawned

"Ok, let's get some sleep" Nixon said.

Lane was curled up next to Lew, gradually she drifted in to sleep, but she kept having a dream about someone taking Lew from her and she couldn't find him no matter how hard she tried.

Nix pulled her closer and kissed her head, he knew she would have a hard time for a while and he just hoped he could help her through it.

Mia sat down on the chair next to Amy's bed; she took her hand and tried to get her to wake up.

"Come on Ames, wake up, we need you, Talbert is miserable and Perconte really misses you, well not right now they are in London raising hell" Mia said

Amy opened her eyes and looked at Mia "Tab?" she said and closed her eyes again.

Mia sighed "Of course she wakes up and ask for the wrong guy" Mia said to herself.

Mia looked at Amy and thought about her family, how they would respond and feel if it was Mia in that bed?

Her parents had already lost one son, how would they feel about losing their only daughter, her two brothers was in the 82nd, it had become a tradition for the MacKall children to be in the airborne.

Mia was the only girl in her family and she had been treated as such, she was always happy and go lucky, some of that happiness had disappeared after Normandy and seeing Lipton get wounded had almost killed her and for a brief moment, she had considered going AWOL just to go with him to Scotland.

The door to the room opened and Katie walked in she had a cot under her arm and a blanket and pillow "I am sleeping here tonight, so you go do, whatever it is you do when you are not here these days" Katie said and dismissed Mia.

Mia looked at Katie "Ok, she was awake for about thirty seconds and asked for Talbert" Mia said

"Funny she woke up last time I mentioned him" Katie said.

"well goodnight, captain" Mia said and closed the door to the room behind her. Mia missed Lipton like crazy and she needed him more now than ever, she hadn't really seen him since Carentan and they didn't get to be alone together, so she hoped things would slow down and they would get some time, some alone time.

She shook her head and headed towards her ward, to hand over her charts to the night shift.

Katie was looking at Amy, she needed her best friend to wake up and to be ok, and without any permanent brain damage, or at least with the only amount she had before she went into a coma, there had to be something seriously wrong with your head, if you would fall head over heels, with a man like Ron Speirs.

…

Mia walked back to the officer's billet, it was on the village green and in the back there were some lovely staples, the men had cleaned out the stables and used them as barracks, there was plenty of room there, for them to store their gear and still have room to play poker and craps.

Mia threw her stuff on her bed, she didn't even bother to take of her clothes off, she just fell on her bed and slept.

She dreamt of the battle of Carentan and she kept seeing Lipton get wounded over and over again.

She had been having the nightmares for weeks and she couldn't wait for Lipton to return again.

She was excited to hear about what he had seen and experienced in Scotland, she was happy for him that he had the opportunity to see the country, she just missed him and couldn't wait for him to come back to her, she needed to see he was alive and well.

In Scotland Lipton was missing Mia as well, and wished she could be there with him, he had bought her a present and couldn't wait to give it to her, he hadn't realized what it would be like to live without her, before their extensive separation, he just hoped they both would live through the war, so they eventually could go home and live the rest of their lives together in peace.

Because of the extensive loss of men the battalion had suffered in Normandy, Winters was faced with the task of reorganizing Easy company, he had been hesitant to perform the task, because of Amy still being in a coma, and them not knowing the extent of her injuries yet.

However, he needed to get the job done, there was a lot of promotions coming up, Buck, Harry and Amy all moved from second to first lieutenants.

Guarnere was made staff sergeant and Malarkey, Muck and Ranney jumped from privates to sergeants and Christenson and Gordon moved to Corporal.

Welsh was now Winters XO and Buck was in charge of 2nd platoon, a replacement officer Peacock was in charge of first, and Amy still had third, Winters just hoped she would wake up soon, so she would be fit to go back to service when the men returned from leave.

Winters also hoped Amy would be ok for Katie's sake. Katie had been staying at the hospital and Dick hadn't seen her other than a few times in the hospital.

Lane and Nix had set it up so Lane and Katie shared a room at the officers billet and Nix and Winters shared a room, so they could switch rooms without anyone knowing.

But it hadn't come in handy yet since Katie was staying at the hospital, it also meant a sleep deprived Katie, since she was woken several times during the night by nurses and doctors who needed her help.

Katie would need her rest; they would more than like be shipped back to France soon.

Winters looked at the clock it was dark out and almost midnight. Winters decided to take a walk over to the hospital to see what was going on and to see if there was any news about Amy.

He walked across the camp; he was stopped by Welsh who was out taking a walk, probably to the nearest Pub.

"Hey Harry, I thought you would be in Ireland" Dick said

"I just stayed a few days, any news on the lieutenant" Harry said referring to Amy

"No, I am on my way there, by the way I spoke to Colonel Sink earlier and he told me that General Taylor was very pleased with Easy holding the line in Normandy" Dick said

"Great, that's why I went to France, to please general Taylor" Harry said, he smiled and walked off.

Harry turned around "Oh Dick, if there is any news about Amy, let me know" Harry said and disappeared.

Winters walked towards the hospital he hoped there would be some good news to report to Harry.

When he walked into Amy's room at the hospital, he first noticed Katie on a cot next to Amy's bed lightly snoring; the next thing he noticed was Amy looking at the sleeping Katie.

Amy looked up and saw Winters standing in the door; she put her fingers on her lips, to keep Winters from waking up Katie. Winters just shook his head he knew Katie would never forgive him if they didn't wake her up.

Amy just shrugged and looked at Katie again, she looked tired and worn, working at the hospital had taken its toll on her.

Winters walked over and kneeled besides Katie's cot "Katie, sweetheart you need to wake up, Amy is awake" Winters said and shook Katie lightly.

Katie opened her eyes and looked into Winters bright blue eyes "What, what time is it?" then she realized what he said and turned and looked at Amy, who smiled at her.

Amy looked pale and like she been through hell and back, but she was alive and awake.

Katie looked at Winters; "Go find Speirs and wake up Mia, while I examine Amy, go and come straight back here after ward" Katie said and pushed Winters out of the door.

Winters hurried back to the officer's billet, but Speirs wasn't in his room, so Winters went searching for him at the local pub, he found him there along with Harry.

"Great you are both here, Amy is awake and you" He said and pointed at Speirs "Are needed at the hospital"

Speirs got up and ran out the door, Winters and Welsh looked at each other and followed him.

The three of them arrived at hospital and ran straight to Amy's room, here they were stopped by a sleepy Mia, "They are not done in there so please wait here"

Welsh and Winters could tell Speirs was about to say something very unpleasant and not so nice to the nurse, so they both put a hand on his chest and pushed him up against the wall and held him there. Mia went back in the room and the three men waited for the nurse to come back out.

In the room Katie was listening to Amy's lungs, she appeared to be ok, the ribs had healed and Katie guessed the semi-coma had been caused by the drugs and Amy's body needed to heal itself.

"You are, as far as I can tell, ok and in perfect health, more or less, you will be weak for the next weeks, so take it easy and you will stay here for the next couple of days.

Katie looked at Mia "You can let the masses in now" Katie said and helped Amy back to bed.

Mia opened the door and let the three officers in, Speirs went straight over and hugged her, and he kept whispering comforting words to her. Amy cried her heart out, the one thing that had kept her alive, while she was with the Germans, was the thought of Ron and her men.

Speirs pulled back and took her head in his hands, "Oh god, you scared the shit out of me, don't ever get captured again" He hugged her again and then let go of her.

Amy smiled at him and just nodded.

Then she got a hug from the rest of them, before Winters looked at her "So what happened Amy? can you talk about it?" he said.

"Dick please…" Both Amy and Speirs started.

"No, its ok" Amy said

"after I was caught on D-Day, they took me to the commander, they asked me all sorts of question and when I refused to answer the locked me in a basement. After a day or so, they dragged me out and blindfolded me and took me to Carentan, there the interrogation began and when I still refused to answer they beat the shit out of me many, many times, and when I fought back, they tried to strangle me, an officer stopped them and then they tied me to the chair I was sitting on and the next thing I remember is Luz rescuing me." Amy said

Ron had been holding on to her while she told her story, he was horrified about the way she had been treated. How could they do it to her?

Mia had tears in her eyes "Don't cry Mia, I have been through worse when my dad was drunk" Amy said and smiled "I will live through this as well, at least they didn't assault me, that I wouldn't have been able to live through" Amy said.

Katie and the rest of them looked at Amy, none of them could believe how well she dealt with what she had been through, if it had been any of them, they didn't think they would have been able to talk about it without any show of emotion.

With Amy's back ground she had been used to being beat and just take whatever there was thrown at her and just ignore what was said about her and to separate herself from her body whenever she was beaten it was like it wasn't her but someone else that had been tied to the chair and left to die in the American assault on the town.

Amy was glad it was one of her Easy men, who had found her in that room.

The men returned from leave and Amy got better day by day, a few days after Amy was released from the hospital, the men was gathered in the barn they had adopted as their mess, the replacement was there as well.

Nixon and Lane had returned from their trip, Lane had been upset at first, that they hadn't let them know immediately that Amy was ok, so she could come back, but when Mia explained Amy wanted Lane to have some time with Lew to make up for the shitty leave they had, had back home, she had forgiven all.

Amy and Mia was in the mess, at first the replacements had been a little skeptic about having so many women attached to their company, but after a stern look from, and a talking to from Bull and Johnny Martin, they had accepted them.

Martin and Guarnere had gotten tattoos, they figured since they lost almost half of first platoon why not it, wasn't like they had a china man's chance of ever getting out of the war alive. Amy chewed out their ass and told them they needed to stop thinking negative thoughts, of course they would make it back home.

Malarkey walked in to the mess and noticed Tab and Smokey was back, he asked why they were in such a hurry to come back, but didn't really get an answer

Smokey got up and tried to get everyone's attention and started to recite the night of the bayonet.

The night was filled with dark and cold,  
When Sergeant Talbert the stories told,  
Pulled out his poncho and headed out,  
to check the lines dressed like a Kraut.

Upon a trooper our hero came,  
fast asleep; he called his name.  
"Smith, oh Smith, get up, it's time  
to take your turn out on the line."

Private Smith, so very weary,  
cracked an eye, all red and bleary,  
grabbed his rifle and did not tarry,  
Hearing Floyd, but seeing Gerry.

"It's me!" cried Tab. "Don't do it!" and yet,  
Smith charged tout de suite with bayonet.  
HE lunged; he thrust, both high and low,  
and skewed the boy from Kokomo.

And as they carried him away,  
our punctured hero was heard to say,  
"When in this war you venture out,  
best never do it dressed as a Kraut!"

Talbert's only response to this was "I could have shot the little bastard six times as he lunged toward me, I just didn't think we could spare a man at the time" he said

While Smokey was reciting his poem, Nixon and Lane walked and found Winters in a corner, they were moving out again.

Nixon and Lane got the attention of Buck, Welsh, Lipton, Amy and Mia and explained what was going on.

The replacement of course had zero idea of what the night of bayonet was and one of the replacements got up, he was stopped by Guarnere, who had spotted the man's thick Philly accent right a way

"You Heffron?" Guarnere said and put a hand on the man's chest

"yeah, who is asking?" He said

"where you from?" Guarnere asked him

"Philadelphia" Guarnere asked him

"South Philly" Heffron said

"I could tell, 17th street" Guarnere said

"Front street" Heffron said

Guarnere told Heffron to sit down and just like that Heffron was in with the Toccoa men.

After finishing his poem Smokey said a few words about how Tab wasn't wounded by enemy and didn't qualify for a purple heart, so he would be awarded with one of Smokey at a little get together with third platoon "And at the same time we will celebrate the fact that our lovely platoon leader is back with us" Smokey said.

Lane and Nixon had finished briefing the officers and Lipton; Lane could tell Lipton was a little vary about having to tell the men, they were moving out again.

"You want me to do it?" she asked him

"No it is ok it's my job" He said.

Lane patted him on the back and the officers left the mess, Lipton took a deep breath and got up

"A couple of announcements, first, listen up; first the training exercise scheduled for 22.00 has been cancelled,"

The men cheered and clapped their hands.

"Secondly all passes are here by revoked, we are heading back to France, so pack up all your gear boys, we will not be returning to England, anybody has not made up a will, go to the supply office, truck departs for Membury at 07.00. As you were" Lipton said.

Mia walked over and took his hand and together they walked out of the mess, when they got outside Mia hugged Lipton and they just stood there and held each other for a while, "I guess I better get to the hospital and pack up supplies" Mia said

She kissed Lipton, she couldn't believe they were heading out again, she wasn't really looking forward to it, but she had a job to do and she would do it, so no one would have to die on her watch.

….

They didn't move out the mission got scrubbed, when Patton over ran the drop zone.

Easy stayed in England and had a rigorous training program, Amy was back in almost ship shape and was back with the men.

Winters had smuggled back some live ammunition from Normandy and used it to get the replacements the feel of advancing in an attack under covering fire, the training was necessary almost half of the company was made up by replacements. They needed the feel of life fire and it helped them integrate them into the company.

During the summer the 101st had sixteen scrubbed missions and the only thing that kept the morale up, was the fact that they could spend the summer in England, instead of Normandy or the pacific like a lot of other soldiers.

The long stay in England had some of the wounded men thinking about permanent disability.

Lipton had been promoted to Company first sergeant, he was also starting to worry about the future, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to play college ball after the war, he was being a complete bear about it and snapped at Malarkey at the mess, when he called him crip.

Mia was sitting with Lane and Nixon, when she heard Lipton snap at Malarkey.

Lipton had him by his throat and lifted him from his chair and declared he could take him down anytime, anywhere.

Lipton put Malarkey back down and stormed out, Mia followed him "Hey Lip wait up" Mia yelled after him, Lipton just kept walking.

Mia put her hands on her hips "First sergeant Lipton, I order you to stop and talk to me" She said and stormed up to him and grabbed a hold of his sleeve and pulled him into a empty tent.

"Now what the hell is wrong with you? why you snap like that?" she asked

Lipton paced around the tent, not knowing what to say, if he couldn't play Football after the war he had nothing to offer Mia once all this was over.

Lipton knew that Mia was an old fashioned girl deep down, she would want a family and a house some day and how could he give that to her if he had a permanent disability?

"I am just worried that I won't be able to play college football after getting wounded and that made me think about the two of us, I know you want a family and how will I be able to give you all the thing you and a family need, if I can't play ball to get a scholar ship and get a good education" He said

Mia looked at Lipton "I don't care if we live in trailer park, I can still work as a nurse back home, so don't worry, as long as we are together everything will be fine" she said.

Lipton studied her face, how could someone be so selfless and give so much of herself and still be able to give to him as well, he couldn't phantom it.

"I guess, I should go apologize to Don then" He said

"Yeah, you should" Mia said and took his hand.

The men needed to blow of some steam and one night they had all gathered at a local pub, Amy, Lane, Katie and Mia was all there.

Amy was more or less wrapped around Speirs the whole night; they had been almost inseparable since Amy's release from the hospital. Speirs had thought about asking for a transfer for both of them back to the states, but had let go of the idea, after asking Katie if it would be a good idea. Katie had told him to go ahead if he wanted to die in England all alone in a place where no one would ever find him; once again Ron decided that Katie was the scary one of the two of them.

Katie spend most of the night talking to a surgeon from the 326th, while Lane and Mia watched Luz and Buck hustle Toye and Babe at darts.

"All right lieutenant, nice and easy we still got a shot" Luz said

Buck threw the dart and missed the bull's eye by a mile.

"it's a though break, you are having a though night, people have though nights" Luz said

"Sorry Luz" Buck said

"It's alright" Luz said.

Bull took the dart of the board and handed them back to Buck "Nice shot sir" He said

"Thank you Bull, Heffron" Buck said and handed the darts to Babe

There was some commotion and Babe threw a double seven followed by an oooh from Toye.

Guarnere looked at Babe "You are embarrassing the lieutenant here, have a drink" He said.

"Don't mind if I do sarge" Babe said.

Mia and Lane just laughed, they had seen this trick a million times, by now Amy had untangled herself from Speirs and had joined Bull, Guarnere, Babe and Martin, drinking a beer, she winked at Luz, and she knew exactly what they were up to.

They looked at the table behind them where some replacements was sitting, Guarnere decided to go and introduce himself,

"Be careful what you say now, don't take a lot to set my guys of" Bull said

"Yeah, you got some wild eyed killers right there Bull" Johnny Martin said.

"Just don't mess with them too much" Amy said and laughed

At the same time Buck shook hands with Babe and said "it a good thing we didn't gamble" he said

Mia rolled her eyes; she couldn't believe that Babe and Toye would be that easy to take.

Babe looked at Buck "You want to bet?" he said

Buck pretended like he didn't gamble, but finally they decided, that the first one to hit the bulls eye would win two pack of smokes.

Amy had moved closer to Luz. He looked at her "You want to say it this time" He said

Amy looked at him "why not"

"Lieutenant are you going to shoot lefty all night? just curious, because he is right handed"

"Amy Hunt, what would I do without Amy Hunt" Buck said and put the dart in the bulls eye.

Luz and Buck gloated and told Toye and Babe to hand them over.

At the replacement table Guarnere was busy telling the story of Babe and how he avoided getting back into old Doris.

Guarnere told them that they should listen to Randleman, because he was the smartest man in the company and got up.

Cobb started to harass the replacement about the unit citation and the replacement ended up taking of his uniform.

Mia looked at Cobb "Well, you didn't fight in Normandy either" She said and picked the citation of the table and handed it to Bull.

Lipton came in and announced they were heading off again and to pack their gear, the pub went quiet, all the Normandy veterans knew they had to face their demons again.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey Amy wait up" Talbert called after Amy, she was on her way to the tent, where she would brief the men about their new mission, along with the rest of the officers.

After Lipton's announcement last night, the 506th had packed up and at 0700, the trucks departed from Membury, where they were now awaiting their new orders.

"So what do you think this is all about" Talbert asked

"Well I already know, I was briefed this morning upon arrival, while you guys were bitching about having to pack all your gear again" Amy said

The tent was jammed pack and Talbert slid down on a seat next to Luz and Grant,

"Did you get her to talk" Luz asked

"No nothing" Talbert said

The three men had hoped to get a head start on the whole operation.

Amy got up on the podium with Lane, Nix, Winters and Welsh.

She looked out over the crowd and noticed Mia in the back holding hands with Lipton, Katie was standing out to the side with a cup of coffee in her hand, she had that look on her face, the one she got, when she knew something wasn't right.

Amy caught her eye and lifted her eye brow, as to ask if everything was alright, they had been doing that since school; Katie just shook her head and motioned towards Winters.

Amy looked at Winters, he looked calm, but had a stern look on his face, like he wasn't sure about the operation, like he knew something was of; he had kept asking Nixon this morning if they were absolutely sure about the Intel, like he had a feeling it sounded too easy.

Nixon had insisted it was good Intel and that they shouldn't worry.

Lane backed him up; they had gotten the Intel fresh from the Dutch resistance, who had proven absolutely dependable before.

Winters started to brief the company about their new mission

"As you can see, this is called operation Market-Garden, Market being the airborne operation and Market the ground operation, in terms of airborne divisions involved, this is even bigger than Normandy. We are dropping deep into occupied Holland, the allied objective is to take this road here between Arnhem and Eindhoven, and so the two British armored can move up toward Arnhem. Our job is going to be to liberate Eindhoven, stay there and wait for the tanks" Winters said and when he finished Lane took over.

"The entire European advance has been put on hold to relocate resources for this operation, its Montgomery's personal plan, we will be under British Command" Lane said.

There was a lot of moaning and complaining,

At this point Nixon took over "The good news is, if this works, these tanks will be over the Rhine into Germany that could end the war and get us home by Christmas. It will be a day time jump, Intelligence doesn't expect much opposition, they think the krauts in Holland are mostly old men and kids, and we should take them by surprise. In any case say goodbye to England, I don't think they are going to call this one of" he said

The men started to pile out of the tent after the briefing ended; the officers lingered around and went over the operation one more time, just to be absolutely sure they were prepared for whatever there could happen.

* * *

Katie and Mia headed back to the aid station to gather supplies.

"I don't know about this operation, so pack up all the supplies you can scrounge" Katie said

She had to go and finish some paper work, and to make sure everything was in order back at the hospital, before she could leave England with a clear conscience.

Mia packed up whatever she could get her hands on, and whatever she knew she could jump with, she packed up stuff for Roe and Spina as well, they were out among the men making sure everybody was in shape to jump.

After finishing up at the aid station Mia went and searched for Lipton, she needed him to tell her everything would be alright, after working with Katie all day, who kept mumbling that she just knew this would fall on its ass, she needed someone who wasn't so negative.

She found him in his tent with Welsh and Buck; they were going over the objective for the platoons.

"Hey aren't you missing a lieutenant" She asked them

"if you mean you, then yes, if you mean Hunt, then hell no" Buck said

"Why, I can't imagine Amy giving you boy's trouble" Mia said

"Well she was jumpy and wouldn't stop pacing, so we send her out to play with her boyfriend, so he could have the pleasure of her company" Welsh said

"oh" Mia said

Lipton motioned for her to come and sit down next to him, he pulled her close "you ok" he asked

"Yeah just a little… I don't know, I still don't want to move out again, but I will follow you boys anywhere" Mia whispered to Lipton

"I know, it will be fine" Lipton said and that was all Mia needed to hear

She smiled at Lip, the guys talked for hours and Mia eventually fell asleep, she was woken by Lipton, "Mia you need to find your own bed" Lipton said

Mia looked at him she didn't really want to, but she got up and kissed him and went back to the aid station to crash, on the way there she ran into Amy and Speirs, who was heading in the opposite direction, they looked happy, she thought to herself, but knowing the tempers of the two lieutenants it wouldn't last.

* * *

The next morning the Easy company veterans were bustling around and teaching the replacement how to be ready to fight after the jump. Suddenly Bull stopped and looked around, a jeep with Popeye in the back and Sobel in the driver's seat was pulling up on the air strip

As he drove by, the Toccoa men and women stopped smiling and just looked at him, the jeep stopped and Sobel got out, he pulled down on his uniform jacket and walked around the supply truck there was tailing him, it had Malarkeys motorcycle in the back.

Amy looked at Bull "what is he doing here?" she said

"I don't know" he said

Popeye jumped down from the jeep and Lipton walked up to him, trailed by a smiling Mia, who had treated Popeye in Normandy, "Did they let you out of the hospital like that boy" Lipton asked and laughed

"They didn't let me out, I busted out, I didn't wanted get reassigned to some other unit" Popeye said

"Can you make the jump?" Mia asked

"Yeah I can make the jump, I just can't sit" Popeye said

"Welcome back Popeye" Randleman said

"Popeye went AWOL just in time to jump" Lipton said

"Better not let lieutenant Hunt know" Mia said and hugged Popeye

Bull pointed to Sobel and asked "What is he doing here?"

"Sobel, he is the newly appointed regimental S4" Mia said

"Supply officer" Bull said

"Yeah you got it" Lipton said

"He picked me up in Aldbourne, trying to find you guys" Popeye said

"He know you went AWOL" Bull asked

"He knows, he just said I was lucky, I could sit out this jump if I wanted, I said I didn't wanted to, so he said hop in" Popeye said

"Hop in" Bull repeated

"I know, I couldn't believe either, maybe he is going to court martial me later" Popeye said.

Lip slapped him on the back of the head and they headed off to find Popeye some gear.

Mia was looking after the two of them with a big smile on her face; she knew Amy would be happy to see a familiar face in her stick.

Moore walked over to Malarkey "Hey mal look there" he said and gestured towards the supply truck, which had their bike in it.

Malarkey turned around and mouthed son of a bitch.

Sobel noticed him right away and called out "Malarkey, sergeant Malarkey"

Malarkey saluted Sobel, who turned around and looked at the bike "You thought you get away with it?" Sobel asked him

"What do you mean sir" Malarkey looked at Sobel like he had no idea, what he was talking about.

Sobel stared at Malarkey "Sergeant that Motorcycle is united states army property that may not mean anything to you, but that means something to me, where did you find it?" Sobel asked

"That's him alright" Bull said, he was looking at Sobel chewing out Malarkey for stealing the motor cycle.

Amy had made herself disappear when she saw Sobel, she couldn't handle him right know, for some reason seeing Sobel made the memories of her capture return, her hands were shaking and she couldn't get her Thompson hitched on her harness.

Luz noticed her "Hey Lieutenant, you ok" he asked Amy

"Not really George, guess seeing that Son of a bitch, just set me of" Amy said still fumbling with her Thompson.

"You need me to get Speirs" Luz asked her

"no, god no, then he won't let me jump, and I don't need that shit right now, just help me George" Amy said

"Alright" Luz helped Amy, but he didn't like it, he had a feeling he should tell Speirs or someone, Hunt wasn't alright, he could tell she wasn't.

* * *

Sergeant Martin was having troubles with a lieutenant who was jump master on his plane, he kept telling him to tap his leg once the green lights came on, and Martin kept telling him, he would be right next to the light.

Mia called Martin over " Hey Martin, the lieutenant is color blind, cut him some slack and just do as he asks" Mia said

Martin looked at the lieutenant "Ok if you say so" he said and walked over to the lieutenant and told him he would do as he asked.

* * *

**_Occupied Holland September 17_**

It was a beautiful end of summer day and the daytime jump went smooth for everyone, the biggest problem was getting of the DZ, so they wouldn't get hit by falling equipment and gliders.

The March order had Dog Company in the lead with Easy, HQ and Fox following them.

Welsh and Peacock had point with first platoon, followed by Buck and second and then Amy and third.

Mia and Katie were tracking behind with the rest of the medical personal between Easy and HQ. Katie was happy it gave her sometime with Dick, even if they couldn't talk much, just being near him was a welcome change.

They were heading down the road towards Son; the residents in the town were happy to be liberated and were flying the royal orange flag.

They handed out fruits and beers to the soldiers. Amy and Lane got many strange look. The Dutch was not expecting to see women with the Yanks.

Lane was walking next to Winters "Do you think all the Dutch will be this happy to see us" She asked him

"I hope so, let's see if the whole operation goes this smooth," Winters said.

* * *

About a kilometer from the bridge they were supposed to secure, the column was fired upon by a German 88 and a machine gun. When the fire started Lane felt herself pushed to the ground, by Winters "Stay down", he said

As soon as she felt it was secure, Lane got up and ran towards battalion HQ, to find out what was going on.

"Nix what going on?" Lane yelled over the firing rifles and exploding mortar shells.

"The Germans are trying to delay us, so the engineers have time to prep for demolition of the bridge" Nix said

As predicted when they were 25 meters from the bridge it blew in their faces.

Lane, who was in front with first platoon, was slung to the ground, there was a hail of debris raining down over her and she felt a sharp pain in her back, and everything went black.

Katie ran up to her and poured sulfa on the wound, she noticed a piece of debris in Lane's back, she bandaged it up and sent Lane back to the impromptu aid station, a lot of men had been hit by pieces of debris from the bridge.

Amy was busy getting her men across the river on the bridge there had been set up, it could only hold on man at the time, so it took forever to get the entire second battalion over.

Nixon was running around like a crazy person, the Intel provided for them was obviously wrong, and he was trying to straighten the rumors from fact.

Lane woke up in the aid station "What the hell happened?" She moaned when she came through

"Hey welcome back, you took a piece of bridge in your shoulder and got knock out when some debris hit you in the head," Mia said

"You needed some stitches, and you are going to be sore for a while, other than that you will be fine, which we have been trying to tell your man, and here he comes again," Mia said and stepped away from Lane.

Nixon barged through the door "Oh thank god you are ok, you scared me good out there" Nixon said

He walked over took her hand in his, he searched her face, he had been scared out of his mind when he saw her go down, hit by the debris from the bridge, he looked at her "I can't stay, are you sure you are ok?" He asked

"I will be fine just fine; it's you I am worried about. You look like shit" Lane said

She turned to Mia "Is this going to take me out or what?" She asked her

"You will be fine, Katie removed the debris and I stitched you up" Mia said

"besides, the guards armored Division has been held up south of Eindhoven, and we need every man and women out there, just take it easy ok" Mia said

"Ok, let me get out of here then" Lane said

"Here, I scrounged you up a clean shirt," Mia said

* * *

Lane walked out of the barn and the first person she ran into was flustered Amy "I just heard, are you ok?" She asked her

"I am fine, now let's get this show on the road" Lane said

"third platoon on me" Amy yelled and her boys were there in a split second.

That night the girls got together and bunked down in the aid station, it didn't take long for Nixon, Speirs, Lipton and Winters to show up there.

There weren't a lot of talking going on. Lane and Nixon kept going over the Intel trying to find out where the miss information had come from, and what source had been wrong and what they could expect going forward.

Speirs had lost a man, and had overheard Luz telling Talbert about Amy's strange behavior before the jump. Winters and Katie was talking about how thing had went and how many wounded and killed had come through the aid station.

Mia and Lipton was just making conversation and Amy was staring into space, wondering if she would ever be able to let go of her past.

* * *

The next morning the march continued, Lane was in a Jeep with Strayer and Nixon, the column stopped and Sink spread his regiment, with second battalion on the left.

Lane stood up in the back and looked at the reason why the column had stopped, when she saw Lieutenant Brewer standing in the middle of the road, with his binoculars and Map case at his side.

Amy saw him as well, she was walking along the road side with Randleman and she fought an urge to roll her eyes. She swore under her breath, what a fucking idiot, he could practically be screaming to the Germans shoot me; shoot me I am an officer.

"Get a load of General Patton" Amy said

Randleman looked up and started to yell at the lieutenant, Winters was screaming in the radio "get back, get back, drop back" Brewer never responded

A shot rang out and Brewer fell to the ground, he was hit just below the jaw line. The entire battalion took cover in the ditches

Mia ran to Brewer, and she was immediately hit in the knee, and then in the thigh. Roe came running up to them. Mia was bandaging herself and after she finished she dragged herself back in the ditch, where somebody hooked her up with a shot of morphine.

The next thing she knew, she was at the aid station, Katie was working on Brewer and when she had him stabilized, she came over to look at Mia.

"You do know they have medics in Easy company right?" Katie said with a stern look at Mia.

"Yes Ma'am, but I was the closes one to the lieutenant" Mia said

"Well, next time you leave it to Roe or another medic, got it?" Katie said

She felt like she had to be stern with Mia, she couldn't risk losing a good combat nurse.

"captain, please don't send me back to England" Mia said

"Well you really should, but if you behave and nothing get infected you can stay with the aid station" Katie said.

* * *

The 506th entered Eindhoven and the whole town was filled with happy Dutchmen and women, the hardest part was driving the men through town.

The officers were screaming "keep moving, keep moving", but it was impossible. The men was offered food and shots of brandy and the women was kissing them, a big busted lady had gotten a hold of Perconte and was squeezing him hard, with her bosom.

Luz ran up to Amy "See all these happy people, the girls are real eager to kiss the guys how about a kiss for a lonely soldier," Luz said with a smirk

Amy looked at him "Ok one little kiss, Luz and it's the last one," Amy said

Just as Luz leaned into get his kiss, he felt a hand on his forehead and looked into a pair of ice-cold eyes "Keep moving soldier," Speirs said.

Amy was about to pee herself, the look on Luz face was priceless.

Shrugging Luz moved on "The only one, who gets a kiss from you, is me" Speirs said and pulled Amy in for a long and tender kiss.

He had missed her, he had missed kissing her like that, and Speirs put his helmet back on and moved on.

A young woman grabbed a hold of Speirs and kissed him; Amy just looked at him and felt like she just got a punch in her stomach, when she saw the happy smile on his face.

Amy gave him a cold look and stalked off.

Meeting up with Welsh, Nixon, Winters, and Lane.

Buck met up with them "What's up Welshie" He said

"Snipers" Welsh said

The officers all covered up their insignias; you never knew where the snipers were.

The officers came across a crowd, who was clapping and shouting. They realized it was the resistance, shaving the hair off some women.

"What the heck is going on?" Welsh asked

"it's the women, who slept with the Germans, they are lucky, the men got shot" Lane said.

"We need to move on, get the men and move on," Winters said.

* * *

Late that afternoon the Brits finally showed up, they set up housekeeping and proceed to make tea.

Lane was shaking her head at them. Her and Nixon was a little outraged that they didn't have any urge to keep moving on to Nijmegen,

Around dinnertime, the rest of the Brits arrived and the 506th initial task was over.

The battalion spend the night In hastily dug Foxholes, Lane was sharing with Nixon, she wasn't there a whole lot, she spend most of the night walking the line, her shoulder hurt and she wasn't about to complain, she could take it.

Amy was sitting in her foxhole alone, her buddy had just gone on guard duty, and she was pondering the whole war and her relationship with Speirs. She knew, she loved him, but what would happened after the war?

She heard someone coming towards her foxhole "Times" She said and a voice replied "Square" and Speirs jumped in her foxhole.

"How you holding up?" he asked her

"I am fine, I just pondering this whole war and what I am going to do when it's done" Amy said

"Well, I don't know what you will do when it's over, but right now I suggest you come over here" Speirs said and opened his arms

Amy slipped into his arms and he kissed her, "let's make plans once the war is over" Speirs said, he wanted to marry her someday, but this wasn't the time to plan a future, they needed to live from day to day.

* * *

The next day they continued towards Neunen, Webster made a crack about, that is where Van Gogh was from.

Just out of Neunen, they once again encountered enemy fire.

Lane was standing in the back of a jeep, watching the men fight, once again cursing the faulty Intel

The replacements jumped into the ditch, and Amy had a hard time getting them moving. Amy and Randleman had to scream at the men, that they needed to move, because they were firing at stationary targets.

They got the platoons moving and they ran towards town.

Bull and Amy send first squad to the left, and the rest of the men ran towards the nearest farm house, they send Martin right and Hoobler and Webster left with their squads.

The entire company ran into town, there were Germans and burning equipment everywhere, Amy had her Mortar squad set up ready to fire.

Martin, Amy and Bull noticed a hidden tiger. Martin flagged down the British tank commander and told him about the tank, he just told him, he was ordered not do any unnecessary property damage, and refused to put a couple of shells through the house the tiger was hidden behind.

Martin reported back to Amy, who in very sudden terms told him, what she thought about the Brits.

The tiger shot up the British tank, and in the end Easy and the rest of the Companies had to retreat, while retreating Bull got cut off from the rest of the company.

Compton was hit in the butt and the men dragged him back towards the trucks on a barn door, he kept telling them to leave him for the Germans, but the men refused.

The battalion fell back, just when they were about to move out Gordon and Strohl came running towards the column, they jumped a fence and climbed on board a truck.

Amy had done an exceptional job and had kept her platoon a live, and first and second platoon was the ones with the most wounded and killed.

The lieutenant had led by example and Winters couldn't help but being proud of her

* * *

Winters was upset they had to retreat and Amy wasn't in a better mood, if it hadn't been for Dicks calming presence, she would have lashed out against the intelligence officers.

Winters, Lane, McMillan and Nixon was heading towards Battalion HQ, they could hear Colonel Strayer and his staff laughing in there.

"What the hell do they have to laugh about?" Lane said

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's about to end" Winters said

The officers entered the HQ; Strayer turned to Winters and McMillan and asked how they did today.

"Well we took a hell of a licking, and Easy lost fifteen men, and Dog about the same" Winters said.

Lane grabbed a cup of coffee and walked outside, she was looking up at the sky, and she was watching the Germans bombing Eindhoven and the British Supply convoy.

She felt some beside her, Welsh and Peacock was standing besides looking at the same inferno; "Guess they won't be greeting us with orange flags tomorrow" Welsh said and walked off.

Amy met a group of Easy men on the move "Where are you going?" She asked them

"Sergeant Randleman is missing ma'am, so we are going a patrol to find him" one of the replacements Garcia said.

Lane was walking towards them, she noticed Amy talking to some of her men.

"Hey boys where are we going?"

"To find Sergeant Randleman ma'am" Garcia said

"Please don't call me ma'am," Lane said

Amy moved out the squad to go search for Bull.

Winters was pacing up and down the line, Amy was missing.

He asked his first squad, she was usually with them, when she was nowhere to be found, Amy had told them where she was going, but had instructed the men not to tell Winters or even worse Speirs

"We don't know where she is Captain, we haven't seen her in a while" Smith said.

Winters just gave them a glare and walked of, they were holding something back, and he was going to find out what.

Winters found Luz and Talbert.

"Luz, Talbert, would any of you happen to know where Amy is" He asked

Luz gave Talbert a frightened look "She went on a rescue mission with Randleman's squad" Talbert said

Winters mumbled something about Amy being irresponsible and it got even worse when he noticed Speirs walking over from dog's line

"Luz, Talbert, Captain, you seen Amy anywhere," Speirs asked

Luz and Talbert made themselves disappear and Winters answered Speirs, "she is on a rescue mission, she will be back" Winters said,

Speirs looked at him, something was off, and he just nodded and walked back to Dog company.

Early in the morning the squad and Amy returned in a jeep with Randleman, they had found him walking along the road, and when a jeep passed by, they had all hopped on board.

They were greeted by the company and Amy saw Speirs glance at her and she just looked away and continued to smile, she knew it wasn't over, before he had a chance to yell at her.

* * *

September 22 1944

The Battalion got orders to move towards Uden; Amy and Lane were busy setting up CP and road blocks. Winters had delegated the task of setting up first platoons road block to Welsh.

Katie had a chance to spend the evening with Winters, they had decided to check on the road blocks. The British tank was right where it should be and so was the road block, but there were no soldiers to be found anywhere. There was a manor on one side of the road and a tavern on the other side.

"Where the heck is everybody?" Katie asked Winters

"I don't know, but we are about to find out" Winters said and ran over to the manor and knocked on the door.

Katie reached manor just as the maid opened the door.

They somehow made it clear to the maid, they wanted to see a soldier.

The maid led them down a hall to a large lavish furnished living room. Sitting on the floor in front of a blazing fire, was a beautiful Dutch girl sharing dinner with a British lieutenant, he turned his head and looked at the two officers "is my tank still outside?" he asked them

Katie got angrier than she had been in all her life, she walked over and grabbed the lieutenant by the ear, and she pulled him to his feet and dragged him outside.

"When you address an officer you say ma'am or sir" Katie said pushed the lieutenant down the street towards his tank.

"now you set that road block up, or I will make sure you don't have kids and I am a surgeon, I can make it happen" Katie yelled at lieutenant.

The British lieutenant looked at Winters, who just shrugged.

Both men were a little surprised by the choice of words.

"Let's go find Welsh" Katie said and walked towards the tavern, she was pretty sure that where they would find first platoon.

And just as they thought, they found Welsh and first platoon sacked out on the bar, Katie got even more pissed off, she looked over at Winters who just signaled go ahead.

"WELSH, GET THE FUCK UP, YOU SLEEPING FUCKER" Katie yelled

Welsh shot up from his spot on the bar and fell down on the floor and Katie grabbed him by the ear and dragged him outside, "now, set up the freaking road block," Katie said

Welsh nodded and Katie stalked off to yell of the sleeping men.

Winters and Welsh could hear Katie yelling at the men threatening them with everything under the moon, something about lining them up against the wall and shooting them.

They could hear the men mumbling something and then laughter. Katie came out smiling and headed towards Winters and Welsh "All taken care of," she said

Welsh looked at Winters "I think Sparky is right, she is the scary one" he said

Winters looked at him "Just be glad she didn't shoot you between the eyes, are we clear on the road block Harry" Winters said

"Yes, crystal" Harry said.

Second battalion caught up with each other in Uden. Amy was searching for Speirs in the crowd of soldiers, praying he wasn't hurt. She couldn't find him anywhere, she was starting to panic, when she felt a pair of hands grab her by her waist, she turned around and looked at Speirs she, let out a breath and hugged him, he just smiled Whispered "You are not of the hook" and walked away.

Amy looked after him and went out to find Winters, she wanted to know how the rest of the company was doing, and she found him at the CP.

"Good you are here" Colonel Sink said.

Charlie had been called to the CP, she arrived at the same time as Lane, went over and stood close to Nixon and Amy tried to make her invisible.

"What's going on" Charlie asked Nixon

"We are taking Veghel and moving south" Colonel Sink informed them and continued to explain the mission.

Amy shook her head she had just gotten her men through Neunen and now they were walking into another fight, where the Germans would be superior.

Amy once again saved most of her men.

Lane was observing the attack from behind to parked Jeeps.

Nixon was standing beside her, they were hoping everything would go smooth, and then suddenly Charlie heard a loud ping and noticed Nixon had hit the deck.

Lane and Winters were on him immediately "Oh god Lew are you ok" Lane said

"Yeah I am fine, I am ok, am I ok? Stop looking at me like that" Lew said.

Nixon had been hit by a bullet it had went through his helmet, but only left a burn mark on his forehead.

The men got loaded into the back of trucks and the battalion retreated, while watching the men get back on the trucks Winters looked at Nix "I hate retreating," Winters said

"There a first time for everything" Nixon said

"How are the other divisions faring up north?" Winters asked

Lane was walking by she just looked straight "I think we have to find a new way into Germany" she said and walked by.


	14. Chapter 14

So here another chapter thank so much to ilovemedia18 you rock, thanks for taking your time to help me.

To all of you who have been leaving kind words, thank you for all your support you are awesome

Enjoy this chapter

* * *

Packing, unpacking, Mia was getting tired of packing the aid station just to get the order to move out again hours later. It was October and Easy had moved out to the Island, a dike that lay between the lower Rhine on the north and the Waal River to the right. Easy was relieving the 43rd division who had suffered heavy casualties when trying to rescue the British 1st Airborne Division. When they pulled in Mia was sitting in the back of a truck along with the rest of first platoon, they were studying the British Tommie's and they had never seen such dispirited soldiers.

Mia, Katie and the battalion medics had set up the aid station in Randwijk; this was also where Winters had set up CP. The aid station was in a barn next to the one Easy Company's first platoon had commandeered. There were a lot of patrols going out and a lot of wounded coming in, the Germans hit the boys with everything they had, 88, 105, and massive machinegun fire. The aid station was almost full and they were waiting for the wounded to get evacuated. Winters had ordered the company to hold the right of the battalion line; Dog was on the right side of Easy and Fox in reserve.

The company was covering a mile and a half so they had set up strategic OP's, and the CP kept in contact with the OP's via radio and contact patrols. They were spread so thin that from time to time the Germans would accidently infiltrate the line. Mia was taking inventory and silently singing an old love song, when she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder, Mia jumped and was relieved to it was Roe.

"Hey Gene, what are you doing here? I thought you were out on the line with Spina" Mia said.

"I just came by to steal some supplies, and they told me you were the one to talk to" Gene said.

"Well take what you need, just don't steal my stash of chocolate" Mia said and gave Roe a kiss on the cheek.

Katie was operating on a wounded soldier and wished she had the equipment of a field hospital; she was exhausted and wished she would be able to go and see Dick soon and get some sleep. She was resetting a fractured tibia and she was almost done. The kid had tripped over a sleeping buddy, and that resulted in the fractured tibia, he was going to be in rehab for a while which meant a ticket back to England. Katie reset the bone, closed up the soldier, pulled off her surgical gown, and washed her hands. She found the nearest cot, closed her eyes, and slept.

Mia was done taking inventory and was on her way to see Lipton and first platoon when she saw Katie sleeping on a cot in the corner of the aid station. Mia hoped she would be able to get some rest before the next batch of wounded arrived. Mia found first platoon in the barn. The new guys were showing the replacements around, they were told they got the pent house, which meant the hay loft. Mia found Lipton sitting on the floor squaring away his belongings, trying to secure everything from the day before going to sleep.

Mia and Lipton were talking about the patrols and all the wounded, Lipton wasn't exactly sure how the whole campaign would end; he just wished it would end soon. The weather in Holland was like most of northern European weather cold, rainy, and miserable. The men in the foxholes were soaked and not able to get dry. Lipton had walked the line with Nixon last night and he had found Amy shivering and snuggled up to Toye and Guarnere. When Nixon suggested she go back to CP she had made him a counter proposal and Nixon had backed off.

Lipton put his arms around Mia; he didn't see her enough, every time they thought they had some time to spend together, more wounded arrived.

"Are you ok?" Lip asked Mia.

"I am fine, just tired, but being here with you helps."

"Lie down and get some rest, someone will wake you up if something happens." Lipton said to Mia.

"Ok, but only if you get some rest as well." Mia said.

"I will, just lie down." Lipton said. Mia fell back in the hay stack and closed her eyes and within minutes she was asleep. Lipton looked at her; Mia was special to him, a rare and welcomed gift after his divorce. He was glad she was their nurse, but he also worried something would happen to her.

Winters was securing his grenades with tape when Talbert came over and bent down beside him.

"The new guy's giving the replacements the what for and why is. I swear one them has never shaved." Talbert said. Winters just continued to wrap tape around his grenades,

"Yeah kids" he said. Luz looked at Talbert,

"This is a hell of a dog." Luz said about Talbert's adopted German shepherd,

"What did you call it Tab?" Winters asked.

"Trigger, here you go." Talbert said and threw a stick for the dog to fetch.

"That's good I like that, Trigger." Luz said.

"You heard anything on this" Talbert said and motioned to the Radio

"No it's all quiet" Luz said. Just as he finished, Liebgott and the patrol barged through the door,

"We have penetration, its Alley he is hurt!" Liebgott said. Alley had gotten the worst of it. He had thirty two holes in the left side, face, neck and arm.

"Where did it happen?" Winters asked.

"Crossroad, we encountered a large body of Germans. Three quarters miles off the CP, they have made a major breakthrough of the lines and we were fired upon by heavy machine gun." Strohl said.

"We need to check this out. Lipton assemble me a squad, and go wake up lieutenant Welsh." Winters said.

"First squad on your feet, weapons and ammunition only, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Lipton yelled. Mia woke up at the sound of all the commotion and was by Alleys side in an instant.

"Hey Alley look at me, stay with me. Take off his boots and get his legs up." Mia said. Mia got Alley stabilized and took him over to the aid station. She woke up Katie and told her Alley was hit and needed surgery. Katie got on her feet in an instant, and scrubbed up for surgery. When she got a look at Alley, she wasn't sure he would make it; he had been hit thirty two places by shrapnel. The surgery lasted two hours and Katie was dead on her feet. She had just removed her surgical gown and started for first platoon's barn when Mia stopped her, "They're not there; they're on patrol."

Katie stopped in her tracks, turned, and looked at Mia, "They're at Crossroads right? Where Alley was hit?" Katie said.

"Yeah, and they wont be back for a while" Mia said.

"Let's go back to the barn anyways; maybe we can get some uninterrupted sleep." Katie said. She didn't even get to finish what she was about to say when they heard a jeep pull up in front of the aid station. Mia and Katie ran back and arrived in time to see Speirs on his stomach with a bandaged butt that wrapped around one of his calves. Speirs had tried to swim the Rhine, he had collected some vital intelligence and the Germans had discovered him and shot him in the water. "Ok let's get him inside and check out his wounds." Katie said. The medics from Dog Company carried Speirs inside and placed him on an examination stretcher. Katie removed the bandages and grimaced, removing the bullets would hurt like a son of a bitch. "Medic how much morphine have this man had?" Katie asked one of the medics.

"One syringe and he was out." the medic answered.

Katie and Mia operated on him, they removed the bullets and stitched him up, but Speirs would still need to go to the rear and from there to England. "We need to get Amy here, you think Strayer will let her of the line, so she can say goodbye to Speirs?" Katie said.

"I'll go talk to Nixon and Lane, they can probably get Amy here in about half an hour." Mia turned around and headed out to find Lane and Nixon. She found them at CP where they were playing cards and laughing. It was nice to see the two officers in such a good mood; she hadn't heard any of them laugh since the intelligence coming out of Holland proved to be faulty. "Nixon, Lane I need a favour. Speirs has been hurt and he is going to the rear and from there to England, we need Amy to get to the aid station so she can say goodbye to him." Mia looked at the two officers.

"I'll go talk to Strayer, you two go get Amy off the line." Nixon hurried out of the CP and headed to Battalion HQ. Mia and Lane commandeered a jeep from Sinks driver and headed out to the line. Half way there, a jeep passed by them and was heading full speed towards the aid station. Mia noticed the driver and passenger looked familiar and there was a stretcher strapped to the hood of the jeep.

"Lane turn around, that was the aid station jeep driver and Amy in that jeep!" Mia shouted to Lane. Lane turned the jeep around and headed back to camp. They pulled up to the aid station almost at the same time as Amy, "Oh my gosh that's Guarnere on the stretcher." Mia said and headed into the aid station.

Katie was examining him, "What the happened here?" she asked Amy.

"He found a motorcycle and used it to ride back and forth between his squad members, when suddenly a shot rang out and he was hit in the leg. He flipped over and also took some shrapnel to the butt. I am pretty sure I heard a bone break." Amy said

"Well he is going to the rear as well and probably earned himself a ticket to England." Katie was pealing off the bandage Spina had wrapped around his leg. "I have a man in the corner you might want to talk to." Mia escorted Amy toward the cot that Speirs was sleeping on. Amy sat down next to him and took his hand in hers. She gently stroked his hair and talked to him in a gentle voice, begging him to wake up so she could say goodbye to stirred slightly and opened his eyes,

"Hey welcome back". Amy said and kissed Speirs. Speirs moaned out in pain and Amy looked around for Mia or Katie, she locked eyes with Katie who hurried over,

"Nice of you to join us, seems like you are in pain." Katie gave Speirs a shot of Morphine and Speirs relaxed and fell a sleep instantly. Amy just sat there and held his hand and when the jeep arrived which would take him to the rear she kissed him and said a soft goodbye. She picked up her Thompson and headed back out on line. When the jeep stopped at the foxhole she was sharing with Guarnere she found Toye and Percoente in it. She just slid down into it and sat down on her heels and wrapped her arms around her knees and started to cry. Toye sat down next to her and let cry into his shoulder, he knew she was exhausted and having Speirs hurt and taken away from her took a lot out of her.

* * *

Lane and Nixon were heading out to the crossroads to see how first platoon had done with their counter attack on the Germans. They found Winters who was sitting by himself, letting the events of the night and morning sink in. When he heard them approach he turned around.

"How did you do here?" Nixon asked.

"Twenty two wounded, fifty killed Germans and eleven captured. We lost Dukeman." Winters said. He was walking down towards the dike when he was stopped by colonel Sink,

"Dick can I talk to you for a minute?" Sink said, "Now you have done an excellent job in combat, you have lead easy through a lot of shit, and that's why I am appointing you as XO of second battalion. Congratulations Dick." Sink said. Moose Hey liger took over Easy Company and Winters knew that leaving Easy was the hardest thing he would ever have to do.


	15. Chapter 15

"Nix wake up, we are late for the meeting with Sink and Strayer, get up, get out of the freaking bed" Lane was running around the loft Nix had been billeted to.

she was supposed to share a house with Katie, Mia and Amy, but she was never there, she spend most nights with Nix.

"Come on Nix, they want back at regiment, let's go, something's up, Strayer's order" Lane was now fully dressed and slightly pissed off.

"Ok go ahead, I'll be right there" Nix mumbled down in his pillow.

"Now Nix, we only got ten minutes" Lane was pulling Nix out of the bed.

"Don't make me get Winters up here, he is waiting downstairs" Lane pulled Nix out of bed and got him dressed in record time.

* * *

Nix was ranting about how he thought the campaign in Holland should continue.

"I mean, we are the only unit in the group who have the Germans on the German side of the Rhine, If we had taken Antwerp, and I am not saying that would have been easy, we would be over the River, well supplied and have the Krauts on their heels, now if I can Ike on the Phone, are you two listening to me?" Nix asked

Lane had spaced out while he was talking, and Winters was used to Nix's ranting, so he just let him rant.

"Oh honey, we are hanging on every word" Lane cooed to Nix.

They walked into the HQ, Heyliger was already there.

"They called you too" Winters asked him

"Yeah, whatever is going on Sink is not happy" Heyliger told him.

"Nixon, Heyliger, Easterday" Sink called out and motioned them over

"Meet colonel Dobie of the British first Airborne, Captain Nixon and Captain Easterday is our second battalion S2's, first lieutenant Moose Heyliger"

Dobie did a double take of Lane, now there was a pretty woman, wonder how she made it into the Airborne, and there was definitely something going on between the two captains.

"The Brits lost 8000 men, when Market-Garden fell on its ass, which is why Colonel Dobie has been tasked with coordinating some kind of rescue operation for the red devils who is trapped at Arnhem side" Sink told Nixon, Lane and Heyliger

"The Dutch resistances are harboring 140 of my chaps here, just outside a Jerry held town just 15 miles north of the river, they make their way to the river bank and assemble by the woods here tonight" Dobie said and pointed to a place on the map placed before them.

"Pick a team from Easy company and get them back across the Rhine as fast as possible" Strayer said

"A hundred and forty men" Nixon said

"The Canadian engineers have supplied six boats, the rendezvous point is on isolated land, and I swam it myself last night. At approximately 00.30 hours I will signal the V for victory with a hand-held red torch, that would be a hand-held red flashlight," Dobie pointed the RP. On a map on the wall and turned to Nixon and Lane.

"All right we call this operation Pegasus, ok Bob your second battalion is on the spot, get it done" Sink said to Strayer.

Strayer turned to Nixon "Captain Nixon assist Colonel Dobie in any way possible, you need anything at all you come to me" Strayer said to Nixon

"I can hardly ask for more" Dobie said

Lane, Dobie, Heyliger and Nixon were discussing the details of the operation; Lane had heard rumors about the mad colonel from Arnhem. He didn't seem like a man who made rash decisions, but then again he did swim the Rhine and the water was freezing this time of year.

Lane nudges Nix, "Maybe we should take a look at the maps" she whispered to him, she had chosen to stay quiet, she hadn't figured out what the colonels take on women in army was yet.

"Enemy dispositions map are in the S2, we should take a look at that" Nix led the group to the S2 section of the HQ.

Lane dumped her tired body down into her desk chair and sighed, the group gathered around the table, "Do you have an opinion on this operation, or are you just another pretty face" Dobie asked her

"No… I mean yes…I mean" Lane looked at Nix; she wasn't sure how to get out of the verbal mess she just made.

"What the captain is trying to say is, that she does have an opinion on all this, just like she has an opinion on everything else there goes on around here" Nix laughed.

"Hey, be nice" Lane smiled to Nix

Oh yah, there was definitely something going on between the two of them, the colonel thought to himself, it was nice to see something good come out of this messy war.

"So what's your take on this" Dobie asked Lane

"Well we need to execute fast, speed is the key and are you absolutely sure about the Intel?" Lane was skeptical.

"Positive and I know my men, they will be ready by the time we get there" Dobie smiled, yah she was a hard ass, and he was sure she earned her rank the hard way.

* * *

Winters had been task with writing combat reports and Strayer wanted a complete list of whatever the 34th left behind, he was disappointed, having to write reports instead of help planning and executing the operation, was not what he would have liked to.

He walked into the aid station, he was searching for Katie, when he ran into Mia, he stopped her; the poor nurse was stressed out, and seemed to be running in circles.

"Mia, Mia" Winters tried to get her attention.

Mia did even acknowledge him "lieutenant MacKall" Winters then called

"Captain Winters, Sir" Mia said

"you wouldn't happen to know where Doctor Hendrick is."

"She is in her office, Sir" Mia started to walk away.

"Lieutenant MacKall, get some rest, or I am telling the first sergeant, that you aren't taking care of yourself"

"Sir" Mia walked of mumbling something about overprotective men.

Winters found Katie, she got up from her chair when he opened the door "Dick, I am glad to see you, I got something for you" Katie held out a complete list of medical supplies, left behind by the 34th.

Winters looked at it "You are a life saver, thank you" he kissed Katie on the cheek.

"No problem, I figured regiment would want a complete list of supplies" Katie looked a Winters, he looked like a man who didn't get enough sleep.

"Dick you and me, tonight, a hot meal and a warm bed, no excuses" Katie said

"I want to, but Easy is going on a mission" Winters said

"Dick it's not your job to take care of Easy anymore, its Moose's, so relax Easy is in good hands" Katie said

"I know, stop by my office at eight" Winters kissed Katie and shut the door

* * *

Amy was at Company CP, she was sitting with her feet on the coffee table, she had been summoned by Moose, he was suppose to brief her and the other officers on the upcoming mission, not all of Easy was a part of the mission and the officers were waiting to be told who would be the lucky officer and which men was going on the mission.

Moose walked into the CP and the only ones jumping to attention were Shames and Peacock. Amy and Welsh just gave him a little wave.

"Please don't get up" Moose said to Amy

"Don't worry I won't" Amy didn't even look at Moose; she hoped she wasn't the one going on the mission, she missed Ron and she couldn't wait for him to get back.

She had developed a habit of sleeping in Talbert's bed, and if he wasn't there, she would sleep next to Malarkey or Luz. She knew she really shouldn't do it, but she couldn't sleep alone, so when Ron got back she wasn't letting go of him, ever.

"So the ones going on the Mission is, Lieutenant Hunt, and third platoons first and second squad" Amy head snapped up, if looks could kill, Moose would have been dead.

"Why do third always get picked for these suicide missions, my men are going to love you" Amy said.

"Well the rest of you dismissed" Moose gaze didn't leave Amy's until the door was shut.

"Look Ame's, you are the most experienced leader I have, you would have killed me if I send your men on a mission and left you here, am I right?"

Amy knew he was right "Guess, sorry Moose, didn't mean to question your decision" Amy said.

"It's alright Amy, I know you miss Ron, he will back soon" Moose padded Amy on the knee and left.

Amy fell back against the couch and let out her breath.

* * *

It had gotten dark out; Katie was on her way to meet Winters in his office.

She had only just gotten there when Moose, Lane and Nixon came knocking on the door.

Zelinsky, Winters orderly was there and Nixon came running up the stairs "Hey Dick you finish your novel yet" Nixon said referring to the report of the incident, the attack at the crossroad.

He looked at the stack of papers on Winters desk again "That's a lot of Homework" He commented, and bends down and kissed Katie on the cheek.

Moose came walking in after him "I thought executive officer was suppose to be a fun job" Moose said.

Nixon turned to Zelinsky and asked "Who are you?"

"Zelinsky sir" The orderly answered

"Who is he" Nixon asked Winters

"Zelinsky is my orderly," Winters said

Nixon let out a whistle and looked at Katie "Do you have an orderly"

"Well rang does has I privileges" Moose said

Katie smiled "Yes I do, I have Mia" Katie joked

Nixon looked at Zelinsky "Orderly, I bet you get things like coffee" Nixon said

"Black no sugar and a bacon sandwich" Nixon said

"Leave the poor kid alone" Katie said and sat down on Winters desk, he tried to get her of it, but all he got was a smile and dirty answer.

"Here give this to Colonel Sink with my compliments" Winters said and handed Nixon two pages of paper.

"All that for two pages, guess that's going to take awhile" Nixon said referring to the supply list he had to type out.

"Yeah so matter of fact it will, want a job" Winters was a tad upset

"There it is, I think that somebody wish they were back with Easy company, Moose" Nixon said smirking

"Are you two just here to gloat" Winters said

"No just to rub it in a little bit, Moose is going to lead his first mission as company commander" Nixon said

"Operation Pegasus is set to go off, I thought I might give you the heads up" Moose said

"Pegasus yeah, great, everybody know their job" Winters said

"We drilled with the boats all day and Captain Hunt is coming along, and so is the Canadian engineers, Colonel Dobie knows his stuff" Moose said

"Guess she loves you" Katie said

"Yeah she did a little miffed, but we cleared things up" Heyliger said.

"Do you know how many times you have to cross the river" Winters asked

"If there really is hundred and forty men hiding over there, three trip" Moose said

"Speed is the key, what time is jump off" Winters said

"We will be at the far side of Rhine at 01.00" Moose said

"Speed is the key, keep moving and lead the way" Winters said

"Dick, Easy is in good hands" Nixon said

"Yeah, yeah right, well hang tough" Winters said

"I could say the same too you" Heyliger held his hand out for Winters to shake

"Good luck Moose" Winters said and shook Heyliger's hand

"Nix are we sure on the intelligence on this" Winters asked him

"I think it's pretty damn good"

"Is easy walking into another company of Germans no one can see" Winters asked Nix

"Why don't we ask Moose when he gets back" Nixon said and started to leave

"Yeah and if they do run in to any troubles will you let us know" Winters said

Lane got up and squeezed Winters arm, "They'll be ok"

At midnight Amy assembled her men, they were ready to cross the Rhine, they got in the boats and crossed, when they got to shore, they jumped out of the boats and secured the line.

Amy hooked up with Heyliger and Dobie.

"I got the 30 caliber on the left flank" She said

Moose looked down the Line "Move it down another ten yards" He said and Amy did as ordered.

She came back after moving the 30 Caliber and Moose looked at Dobie "So Colonel where are they" Moose said

Dobie pointed to the hedgerow, and said "Leicester" and in response got the word "Square"

"Come on in" Dobie said

A lieutenant came running from the hedge row, he shook Dobie's hand, "Good to have you back" he said'

"Good to be back" the colonel responded

"Heyliger 506th, 101st Airborne" Heyliger pointed to Amy "This is Captain Amy Hunt"

"A nurse?" the lieutenant asked

"No combat Captain" Amy said.

"Well, I never thought I would be so glad to see a bloody yank" the Lieutenant said

"Your show colonel" Heyliger said

"I will be back shortly" Dobie and the lieutenant disappeared into the hedge row.

They came with another officer; Heyliger looked at the three men "So were the rest of you? we are ready to go"

Suddenly 140 Brits appeared along the Line, "And here we all are" the third man said.

It took three trips across the Rhine, Winters and Katie kept watching the time and waited for Easy to return, they finally heard them all come back and Gather in an old barn.

* * *

Amy was in the middle of the celebration when Moose got up on a chair and started to yell something nobody understood but everybody answered him.

An officer stood up and said "Moose Heyliger and the American 101st has done the Red Devils a great service, making it possible for us to return and fight the enemy on another day, to Easy Company, Victory and Currahee"

CURRAHEE the men shouted, the party got pretty rowdy and Amy had a bit too much to drink, which didn't say a lot, she had never been drunk before, a least not this drunk.

Lane was talking to Bull and one of the British sergeants, when she noticed Amy getting a little too close to one the Brits.

"Bull, go get Talbert and tell him to get Amy to bed, now" Lane said

"Ma'am" Bull turned and immediately found Talbert

Bull motioned him over "What can I do for you sergeant, Captain" Talbert was a little confused, he wasn't close to Captain Easterday in any way

"Talbert, you need to get Hunt to bed, now, she had enough" Lane ordered the sergeant

"Yeah, she is having a rough time with the lieutenant being gone and all" Talbert walked over and picked up Amy and carried her to his room, he put her down on his bed, she opened her eyes for a short moment, "Why can't anybody love me, why do they always leave" she asked him and then passed out.

Talbert gently stroked her hair "I will always love you and I will never leave you" he whispered, he got undressed and climbed into bed and held Amy close all night.

Colonel Dobie came over to where Lane was sitting nursing her drink, Bull had left and Nix had some bet going on a arm wrestling contest going on "So how did a pretty girl like you end up in the airborne" He asked her

"I wanted to serve and the airborne seemed like the best" Lane said and tried shrug Dobie's question of.

"How long have you been with Easy" Dobie asked

"Since the beginning, I was already a S2 lieutenant when the company got formed at Toccoa

"So exactly how many women are there attached to Easy" Dobie asked

"Well now there is me, then there is Katie, she a doctor, a surgeon she is like a freaking genius and she will marry Winters at some point, then there is Amy she just left, she is with a Lieutenant who is recovering from a gunshot wound, Mia our sweet and sacrificing nurse, she been with us since MacKall.

"And you, what's going on between you and Nixon" Dobie asked

"We actually grew up together, and I have loved him most of my life, it only took this little war to get us together" Lane smiled, and at that moment Nix looked at her and a big smile spread across his face

"Well good for you, it's nice to see some happiness in the midst of this miserable war." Dobie toasted Lane

* * *

The 506th moved to Driel, Holland

It was an extremely active sector.

Winters called Heyliger and suggested the two of make an inspection of the outposts.

Winters then called Welsh and told him they would be en route that night.

They were walking side by side down the narrow path, when suddenly they heard someone yell Halt.

Moose for the life of him couldn't remember the password, and without further notice the private, who was at the outpost, fired his M1, Moose was hit in the right shoulder and the left leg, his calf looked like it had just been blown away.

Winters screamed at the private, that he needed to get Lieutenant Welsh and fast, and to call an ambulance.

Welsh and Winters bandaged Moose up as good as they could and carried him to the waiting ambulance, when they got there, Mia and Doc. Roe was waiting for them

"How much morphine did you give" Roe asked

"Two maybe three syringes, I don't know" Welsh said

"Well I don't see a single syringe on this man jacket" Mia said

"You lucky he is a big man, he might just make it" Roe said

"We are sorry ok" Winters said

"We didn't know what to do he was in so much pain" Welsh said

"Well you are officers and grownups you ought to know" Mia said and slammed the ambulance door shot.


	16. Chapter 16

**I have no Idea if anybody reads this, but here you go**

**I have been working on some stuff over at FANFICNATION, so if any of you like NASCAR I have the same pen name there.**

**My darling BETA went AWOL, please comeback I miss you**

* * *

"Dick we are heading out, we heading for Moumelon" Nix was standing half way up the stairs to the loft Katie and Winters shared in the house they had been billeted to, he had his holdingbag packed and was ready to go.

Winters looked at Nixon "Yeah the office is packed and we are good to go".

The two officers walked out into the busy street, a jeep was waiting for them, it had Lane on its hood she was waiting for Nixon to show up, when she noticed Nixon heading for the driver seat, she jumped of the hood and pushed him out of the way.

"You are not driving, I know you been drinking and we are going to have a little talk about that" Lane jumped into the driver's seat and fired up the engine, Nixon and Welsh got in the back and Winters got in the passenger's seat.

Nixon and Welsh had both been drinking and was cracking jokes, Lane zoned out, she was looking forward to get some rest. The men needed some time off and if, and that was a big if the Intel was correct, the 1001st wouldn't see combat until spring.

Moumelon was an old garrison fort, old being the key word, but none of the officers complained, it had hot water, warm beds and good chow.

…..

Easy had been on post for two days and Lane and Amy was already fed up with the new commander, Norman Dike.

Amy had been called to Company HQ, and she just knew Dike was going to be a jack ass, she knocked on the door to his office "Enter "he called out. Amy walked in to the room and stood at attention.

"At ease lieutenant" Dike eyed Amy

Dike found the young female lieutenant very interesting, fascinating even. Dike was very attracted to her, and from what he observed, she wasn't involved with any of the men.

"Please sit down" Dike said and motioned toward the chair in front of his desk, Amy sat down, something was off, Dike was being too nice to her, and so far all he had done was yell at her and Lane. He had tried to order Katie and Mia around, Katie immediately set him straight, something about being able to send him back to regiment and latrine duty.

"You wanted see me sir" Amy was nervous.

"Yes, how are you holding up, are the men treating you all right" Dike asked her and walked around to the front of the desk and leaned up against it, facing a blushing Amy.

Amy pushed the chair back a little "Good, sir, it's all been good since Toccoa" Amy looked up at Dike.

"Good, and how are you? How you holding up" Ok this was weird Amy thought herself, Dike was being too friendly.

"Sir, everything is ok, now what can I do for you?" Amy eyed the CO, this felt wrong on so many levels.

Dike pushed of the desk, he helped Amy on to her feet "Well I was hoping you would have dinner with me" Dike looked Amy right in eye, she looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, sir" Amy stressed the sir

"I think it would" Dike grabbed Amy's arm

"Thank you, but no thank you" Amy pulled her arm out of Dike's grip and headed toward the door.

"I didn't give you permission to leave lieutenant" Dike said to Amy's back

"Permission to leave, sir" Amy asked the CO

"Permission denied" Dike said.

Amy swallowed hard, Dike scared her and she really wished Ron was there, she was afraid of what he would do to her, everybody else were out doing drills with Shames and Peacock.

"Lieutenant at one point or another you will go out with me" Dike turned his back to Amy

"Dismissed he hissed and Amy practically ran out the door.

Upon exiting the building Amy ran smack right into Lane and Nixon, Amy let out a breath and shook her whole body in disgust.

"What's wrong with you" Lane asked her

"Dike, that's what, he was hitting on me, he called me into his office to ask me out, can you believe that" Amy was pissed off.

"He did what" Nixon asked her visibly upset.

"Can you freaking believe him, he wanted me to go out to dinner with him"

"Son of a…" Nixon mumbled and headed for door Amy had just come out of.

"Nix don't do it, he is so not worth it, Ron will be back soon and I am pretty sure he will take care of it"

Nixon stopped and looked at Amy, "Ok if you are absolutely sure" Nixon tried to read Amy's facial expression

"Yes, positive" Amy hugged Lane and headed towards the exercise field.

When she arrived Peacock nodded to her and Amy took over drills, she was glad to have such a mind numbing job to do, so she wouldn't think about what just happened in the CO's office.

Lane and Nixon were in the S2 office, they were discussing, the Amy and Dike situation, "I am telling you the guy is bad news, the men is already referring to him as foxhole Norman, and now he is harassing Amy" Nixon was pacing up and down the length of the room, he was pissed, Dike needed to leave Amy alone.

"Yeah well Easy will take care of Amy and when Sparky is back, Dike will back off" Lane put her arms around Nixon's waist and hugged him, she pulled back a little without letting go.

"I guess, now how about you and I get out of here and join the boys in town" Nixon kissed Lane on the top of the head.

…..

The men all got passes to Rheims, the only problem was the fact that the 82nd was in town as well. And that was bound to cause some problems.

Amy, Mia, Lip, Talbert, Luz and Perconte, was sitting at a table in a bar, they had just bought their third round and they were in a good mood, the rest of the Easy men was scattered around the bar talking to the locals or playing cards.

Amy was getting there, she had a buzz going and she was flirting with Talbert and at one point, Lip had to tell Talbert to back off a little. Mia told Amy not to drink any more, Amy just laughed and told her not worry, she wasn't about to get Talbert in trouble.

Lane and Nixon walked into the bar and Nixon immediately spotted Shames and Welsh by the bar, he put his hand on the small of Lane's back and steered her towards the bar, Lane nodded to Welsh and shook hands with Shames, she didn't really know him, he had a tendency to scream at the men, so she asked him why he screamed at the men so much.

"Well I am just getting tired of replacements getting killed, so I figured if I intimidate them, they will listen" Lane could see where he was coming from, Lane put a hand on his shoulder.

"I hate to tell you this, not a lot scares these guys and if you want to intimidate them, look to Speirs he knows how to scare the shit out of them" Lane laughed and turned to the bar. Out of the corner of her eye Lane saw a bunch of men from the 82nd pour into the bar. Lane padded Nix on the back and nodded towards the door

Welsh and Nixon turned around, Nixon grabbed Shames shirt and turned him around, "this means trouble" Welsh said with a smirk on his face.

"Yup" Lane said and eyed the table with Amy and Mia around it.

Liebgott had joined the guys at the table a group of 82nd boys walked up to the table "What does the eagle scream?" one of boys from the 82nd said "Help, Help" the rest of the group yelled.

That was enough to set the Easy guys of, Mia grabbed Lipton and headed for the door, Amy in her buzzed stated joined in fight and she got some good punches in before someone knocked her out.

Lane saw Amy go down and she pushed through the crowd and was almost at the door, when the MP's arrived, they just saluted the two officers and Lane pushed Amy into the jeep she had waiting outside, Nixon and Welsh jumped in the back and Lane sped off.

Nixon and Welsh laughed, Amy was waking up and she moaned, she was going to have a black eye and a big bruise on the cheek.

"Well hallo there, punchy" Welsh laughs, Amy just groans "Remind me too never fight again" She says, before she slumps back in her seat.

Amy tries to sneak in to her barrack, she just wanted to sleep, Katie who had heard about the fight in town, was waiting for them "I heard about a fight in town and with Sparky gone I figured you would be involved" Katie got of the cot she had been sitting on, she put her hand on Amy's shoulder and pushed Amy all the way to the hospital.

A half an hour later Amy was back in third platoons barrack, the men had come back from town and they were all in a good mood in their minds they had won the fight, when they noticed Amy and her black eye, the entire barrack went quiet, "What the hell happened to you" Talbert asked

"The same as happened to you, did we win or what?" Amy asked and the men told her about the rest of the fight.

The next day Lane was ordered to Regiment HQ, Lane was a bit nervous, she wondered if anything had happened to her family she couldn't think of a reason for her uncle to call her to HQ.

Lane had to wait for her uncle to arrive, he was alone so Lane guessed it was a personal visit, Lane followed her Uncle into the office, "Sit down sweet heart" Sink said and motioned toward the chair in front of his desk.

Lane sat down, she was biting her lip, and she was wondering if it was bad news.

"Lane, I am sending you back to Aldbourne for a little while, a month or so they need help training the new S2 coming in from the states and you are the best I have, I am sorry I can't send Lewis with you, his… bad habit is frowned upon at Division" Sink said.

Lane nodded she didn't want to leave the company and Lew in particular, but an order is an order and she had to follow a direct order.

"Ok, when do I leave" she asked her uncle

"I 15 so get cracking, dismissed" Sink waved her out of his office

Lane hauled butt, to her room and threw her stuff in her holding bag, she rushed out to find Nixon, she ran into him in the middle of the street, she didn't have time to explain and she told him she had to go and she would be back in a month, Lane kissed him hard and told him she loved him and then she was gone.

Nixon walked into Winters room, headed straight for his footlocker and found his stash, he didn't even take time to pour it in his flask he just took a big gulp out of the bottle.

"So Lane left" Winters stated

"Yes and I don't know where she went" Nixon said and took another big gulp

"Well she went to Aldbourne to help train the new S2 and she will be back in a month and if you behave, I will get you a pass to Aldbourne" Winters stood up and took the bottle out of Nixon's hands.

A week later Nixon, Welsh, Amy, who was hiding from Dike, and Katie was gathered in Winters office. Zielinski knocked on the door and announced a sergeant Guarnere was there to see the Captain.

Guarnere stepped in the office and saluted the officers, he looked around and noticed how tired they all looked.

"So I guess congratulations are in order, I never thought I see you parked behind a desk" Guarnere said and looked at Winters.

"Well one these days he are going to sit behind it" Nixon smarted of.

"I just went AWOL from the hospital to get here, I hope it's not going to cause you any problems" Guarnere said

"Would you care if it did" Katie asked

"Not a bit" Guarnere said and hugged Katie

Guarnere pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket "I got a letter here to from Moose, Lieutenant Heyliger, sir he is recovering but it's going to be a long haul" Guarnere said and handed winters the letter.

Dick looked over at Harry and Harry bit his lower lip looking a bit ashamed.

Bill turned and looked at Amy "And he told me to give you this" Bill said and went over and hugged Amy and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Amy hugged Bill Back.

"Did you see Ron?" She asked

"Yeah and he said he would be back here soon and for you to behave, but from the look at that muck of yours, its too late" Guarnere said

Guarnere asked about the Christmas day football game and made a crack about sky trained boys and looked at the officers, they all looked busy, tired and somehow preoccupied.

"Great… well I just go find some trouble" Bill said

"You do that" Nixon said.

"And Bill no more joy riding" Katie said

"Right, ahh anybody ever heard of a little joint called Lulu's" Bill asked

"Got me" Welsh said and Amy just lifted her eyebrows at Welsh, she knew he was lying.

"I'll just ask around" Bill said

Bill walked out and Zielinski closed the door, "Well I guess know is as good as time as any" Nixon said and pulled out a piece of paper form one of his pockets.

"What is that another piece of paper, I don't want to see another piece of paper" Winters said.

"General Taylor has flown back to Washington, he has left McAuliffe in charge of the division, and Colonel Sink is in Reims to see Dietrich" Nixon said

"Marlene is in Reims, I am out of here I am going to Reims" Welsh said

"Strayer is in London to Visit Dobie, and I am personally going to Aldbourne to look up a surden young lady," Nixon said

Winters looked at Nixon, "What are you telling me" He asked

"You two are heading to Paris, that's a forty eight hour pass, it's been decided that the two of you deserve some time of" Nixon said

Katie looked at Amy, she smiled and hugged Dick "I can't believe it Paris" she said

Amy was kind of bummed she would be staying alone, Nixon turned and handed her a pass to Aldbourne "You are coming with me" He said, Amy smiled and Hugged Nixon.

"I can't believe it I get to see Ron, you are a life saver" Amy kissed Nix on the cheek.

"Don't thank me yet, we have a long way ahead of us" Nixon said

"I don't care, I get to see Ron" Amy was ecstatic, she ran out the door.

Welsh, Winters, Nixon and Katie looked after her "Nix, I need to find out how she is really holding up and how she is doing, while you guys are gone, there is something of about her" Katie said to Nixon

"I will don't worry" Nixon said.

"So are you excited to see Ron" Nixon asked Amy, they were almost in Aldbourne and Nixon had a feeling Amy was a little too cheerful.

"I can't wait to see him, it's going to be great, and I just hope he is better now than the last time I saw him" Amy was bouncing around


End file.
